Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Chocolate Covered Cherry Sugar Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Last Christmas I was really feeling the need for chocolate covered cherries. That lead to attempting to recreate them in cookie form, as I'm not about to make anything as convoluted as chocolate covered cherries are sure to be. And, let's face it, unless you're dropping some serious dough, the store-bought ones — while tasty — are chock full of scary candy chemistry that will put you off sugar for life. (Thank you very much Marc Summers and Unwrapped, you've ruined so many treats for me...)

1 cup Butter, softened
3/4 cup + 1/2 cup Sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 t Almond Extract
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 t Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg, fresh if you've got it
6 oz Dried Cherries, chopped
1 cup Slivered Almonds
6 oz Chocolate Chips, I prefer the Hershey's Special Dark Chips
2 tsp Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and 3/4 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and almond extracts. In another bowl combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Mix in dried cherries and almonds.

Roll round teaspoonfuls of dough in the remaining sugar and bake 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Carefully melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or a double-boiler. Once smooth, thin with 2 t vegetable oil. Put paper towels or newspaper under your cooling racks and drizzle cookies with melted chocolate. Allow to set before storing.

Adapted from Soft Sugar Cookies at AllRecipes.com

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