Cranberry Orange Drop Cookies

The rain is sliding down the south facing window, the one above the white couch with the grey blanket that warms my feet.  The dog lays on the floor blissfully asleep until the heater blows on and his head lifts.  I feel the rain sprinkle onto my cheek through the screen on the open window when the wind gusts.  I reach up to close it and feel a little puddle of water.  It's our first rainstorm in our new place and we've yet to discover the patterns and tricks the weather will play.  A day as blustery and wet as this deserves the comfort of baking and the warmth of an oven, my comfort lies in the recipes I try.

It's only the first rain of fall but I'm dreaming of snow and crackling fires, cinnamon baking and songs to sing, it's week 3 of 12 weeks of Christmas cookies.  Today I make Cranberry Orange Drop Cookies, they're Christmas in a cookie for sure.  There are cranberries, a lot of them, and spices, there is ginger and orange and walnuts and pistachios.  They are comforting and warm, soft and pillowy, they are perfect for this day.

[update: butter ate all of these.  I had one.]

Baking notes:
-I made a half batch of this cookie recipe, and I ended with 19 cookies, 5 shorter than the 24 approximated.
-I used water because I didn't have orange juice on hand (I forgot that the orange I zested was full of juice)
-I measured out the cookies into rounded tablespoons but only baked them for 12 minutes instead of 18, which was plenty of time, I imagine they would have otherwise been quite burnt.

The recipe for Cranberry-Orange Drop Cookies can be found on the epicurious website.

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