Well, for the most part this holiday season, I stuck with my old tried and true. However, I, like so many others, am totally obsessed with Pinterest. I'm constantly "pinning" new hair styles and colors, fashion styles/outfits..and FOOD. Two pins in particular caught my eye..and yes, they were recipes. The first is a white chocolate cherry shortbread cookie. Not only are they yummy but they are SO cute. Pink cookies with the slight flavor of almond filled with flecks for red maraschino cherries and white chocolate. These cookies are RICH...but so good. The second cookie is simple..a mint chocolate cookie. If you love mint chocolate chip ice cream...the flavor is spot on comparable. The dough actually looks like mint chocolate chip ice cream. I made these cookies a bit later in the season, so they didn't make it onto EVERY cookie tray that went out, however, they made it on a few. These cookies were WINNERS. They have been moved from the "Newbie" file to the "Tried and True" file and will be made every year from this season forward and included on ALL trays. So if you didn't get to try them in 2012 you most definitely will in 2013.
Below are the recipes for both as well as photos. As you can see they are incredibly festive in appearance and add a nice pop of color to your holiday trays.
White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients:
½ c maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
2 ½ c flour
½ c sugar
1 c cold butter
12 oz white chocolate baking squares, finely chopped
½ tsp almond extract
2 drops red food coloring/gel
2 tsp shortening
¼ c sugar
Red sugar crystals
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine the flour and sugar and mix well. Cut in cold butter until the mixture is fine crumbs. Stir in cherries and four ounces of the white chocolate. Stir in extract and food coloring. Knead dough into a smooth ball. Shap dough into ¾ inch balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar to flatten balls to 1 ½ inch discs.
Bake for 10-15 minutes. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
In a saucepan combine 8 ounces of white chocolate and the shortening. Stir on low heat until melted. Dip half of the cookie in the chocolate mixture and roll the edge in red sugar crystals. Place on wax paper until cookie is set.
Yields approximately 5 dozen.
Mint Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients:
2 ¾ c flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp mint extract
15-20 drops green food coloring
1 bag Andes mints, chopped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt) together and set aside. Unwrap and chop the Andes mints, set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and mint extract. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Add green food coloring and mix until color is even. Fold in the chopped mints.
Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls (you may need to shape with your hands) and flatten. Place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let stand on cookie sheet for two minutes then move to cooling racks.
I'm considering changing up and playing with the white chocolate cherry shortbread cookie recipe. My thought is that if I swap out the white chocolate for dark chocolate, it would be a wonderful "chocolate cherry cordial" cookie. I definitely think it's worth trying. There's also the thought to swap out the cherries for dried cranberries. I think it will be a fun recipe to play around with in the future.
Well, there may be another post coming in the very near future (maybe even this week!). We still have peanut butter blossoms, spritz, gingerbread kids and others to cover. Please feel free to post comments and/or ask questions regarding any of the recipes posted. Happy Baking (and cooking)!
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