Cherry Pecan Shortbread Cookies

For seven years running- I look forward to an annual Christmas Cookie Exchange party with girlfriends.  This tradition started back in Charleston with a great group of women from my work.  When we moved to Kentucky - I decided to bring the tradition with me.  This year I had about 20 ladies and 100+ dozen cookies crowded in my dining room for sampling and swapping of our favorite holiday baked goodness.

I like to try a new recipe every year.  This year I went with a Martha Stewart classic shortbread recipe.  The simple recipe of essentially just butter, sugar and flour is fool proof and the combinations of flavors and mixins makes for an infinite number of variations.  I was also looking for a "no fuss" recipe as I was busy making appetizers and preparing to host- so the concept of having the dough waiting for me in the freezer- no rolling, scooping or shaping of dough required- was appealing.

I found some DELICIOUS dried Michigan tart cherries at Sam's club recently so I chopped some of those as well as some pecans to add to the mix.  I also dipped the ends in melted white chocolate to turn up the fancy a little bit.

Here is the basic recipe:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup dried cherries- chopped
8 oz good white or semi-sweet chocolate- chopped **don’t use chips, they don’t melt as well

1. Make the dough: In a mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar, almond and vanilla extracts, and salt until smooth. With mixer on low speed, add flour; mix just until a dough forms. Lastly, mix in pecans and cherries.

2. Freeze the dough: On a piece of waxed paper, form dough into a rectangular log, 12 inches long, 2 1/2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. Wrap log in the paper, and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours (and up to 3 months.) If freezing longer than 1 day, wrap log again, in plastic wrap.

3. Bake the shortbread: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove dough from freezer. (If dough has been in freezer a long time and is frozen solid, let it sit at room temperature 20 minutes so it slices without crumbling.)

4. With a sharp knife, cut dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheet at least 1 inch apart. (Keep them as close to the same thickness as possible to ensure they all cook evenly.)  Bake until edges just BARELY begin to turn golden, 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet; transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Note: I doubled the recipe above to make two logs of dough.

I dare you not to eat at least one raw cookie while you're slicing.... yummy!

5. Dip in white chocolate: put the chopped chocolate in a glass bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each one, until melted and smooth. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Dip the ends of each cookie into the chocolate and place on the parchment. Let sit until the chocolate dries (put in the fridge to speed up the process). Store in an airtight container.

Crispy, crumbly buttery deliciousness, I tell you.  Studded with a little chewy tang from the cherries and a toasty richness from the pecans- these are anything but boring .  The white chocolate adds another layer of creamy sweetness without overpowering the taste of the cookie. 

My ONLY complaint is that I was hoping the cookies would maintain their rectangular shape.  The definitely spread a little bit in the oven so they were more oval shaped in the end.  Also- once they begin to turn golden, they brown fast so keep a close eye and rotate your pans half way through if your oven bakes unevenly like mine.

Other flavor combinations to try:
*Orange zest and chopped almonds
*Lemon zest and chopped pistachios
*Hazelnut shortbread sandwiched together with nutella or jam
*Plain vanilla shortbread dipped in your favorite dark chocolate