I suppose I went through a short phase, while I was learning to cook, of pooh-poohing any recipe that didn’t come from a glossy food magazine or a chef-y cookbook. But it was a pretty short phase…because I come from a place where Junior League and utility company cookbooks are the bibles of cooking. Maybe it’s because New Mexican cooking is really old and hyper-regional (like Louisiana food, or Hawaiian food: I always say I trust anywhere in the U.S. that cooks a whole pig in the ground on a regular basis). But in any event, you’re not going to make it very far into the repertoire if you just rely on the Internet, or Thomas Keller.
On a similar note, I realized as I was making these cookies for the umpteenth time that a good chunk of my go-to recipes, particularly for baked goods, come from an extremely pedestrian source—namely, the packages of the main ingredients. I thought about it, and my working hypothesis is that package recipes are so good because the millers/producers of those products know them the best and thus know how best to use them. So, my prized oatmeal scotchies recipe comes from the Quaker Oats can, my pasta recipe from the back of the Bob’s Red Mill semolina bag, and this recipe—Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies—from the Craisins bag. This recipe is so good my stepsister entered it in the NM State Fair and won a ribbon with it! (OK, Jeni is an amazing baker and tends to have a great feel for substitutions, so I doubt her version was strictly the package version.) But still, enjoy! And drop your go-to package recipes in the comments so we can all benefit….
The Rookery 