I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I, um, don’t like white chocolate that much. I realize to like white chocolate is to be a full-fledged adult, but I’m just not that mature. I comfort myself with the knowledge that white chocolate isn’t real chocolate at all. While this may seem like a slanderous unfounded attack aimed to hurt white chocolate’s unblemished reputation, it is, in fact, true. According to Food Lover’s Companion, white chocolate “can’t be officially classified as ‘chocolate’ because there is no chocolate liquor in it.”

Not that my stance towards white chocolate is at all consistent. When I’m at the mall, I will sometimes find myself walking in a trance toward the cookie stand and purchasing a white chocolate and macadamia nut cookie, though white chocolate and macadamia nuts are not foods I’m normally drawn to on their own. I even made and enjoyed a White Chocolate Ganache not too long ago. But when I baked some White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies a while back, as much as I loved the cookie and as much as I loved the cranberries, I found myself distracted by the sweet white chocolate and determined next time I’d make the cookies with something more semi-sweet in nature. And so I did.

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Assessment: Um, so, uh, my version wasn’t better. I envisioned a cookie packed full of something resembling Raisinets (one of my favorite candies)—a Craisinet Cookie, if you will. And though it was good and all, the crowd generally preferred either the regular chocolate chip cookies I also made or the white chocolate and cranberry ones from before. Either Adam are Marri said (or perhaps they jointly concluded) that the white chocolate highlighted the cranberries more since there was such a contrast in taste while the semi-sweet chocolate hid the cranberries a bit. So stick to the original recipe posted in From the Pantry—it’s a crowd-pleaser, and you’re likely to find some good Indian and vegetarian recipes while you’re there as well.