Black Forest Cookies

I knew I wanted to bake, and my husband and I had one of those random trips to the grocery store where we picked up the 2-3 items we needed, but then we pick up this and that. I kept thinking that there are a couple of baking items I should get, so I picked up a lemon and also a jar of maraschino cherries. I knew I had recipes that used either, so I knew they would be good choices. These contain cherries, obviously, so now I need to figure out which of many recipes I want to make with the lemon I have!

I halved this recipe, but the recipe below reflects the full quantities. This recipe called for a lot of butter (1-1/4 cups), and I should have followed my instincts and used less butter. I didn’t do that, so my cookies spread a lot and were quite flat. I figured that would be ok, but I think that I would like to try these again using a reduced amount of butter. The recipe below reflects less butter, but it still might be too much. I would need to do some experimenting.

The dough for these cookies is sticky, which isn’t uncommon for chocolate cookies. When you flatten the cookies, make sure that your hands are slightly damp, otherwise you’ll just have a mess. As I said, my cookies were very flat and very fragile. They got better once they cooled, but were still delicate. I thought about switching to a powdered sugar glaze, but I used the white chocolate glaze and it worked great. I’d had bad luck the last time I made a white chocolate glaze, but this time was fine. These cookies were so good. The rich chocolate was wonderful with the cherries and the sweet white chocolate glaze. I need to experiment with these, but I’m looking forward to that!

Black Forest Cookies
2 cups flour
¾ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped

White chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

Heat the oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again on medium to incorporate. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. When the flour has almost disappeared into the dough, add the chopped maraschino cherries, and stir on low until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Slightly flatten the cookies with the palm of your (damp) hand.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. Cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack with a metal spatula. The cookies will be fragile until they cool.

Once the cookies are cool, melt the white chocolate chips with the vegetable shortening. Do not over heat. Once the white chocolate is smooth, drizzle the white chocolate over the cooled cookies. Allow the white chocolate glaze to set before serving.

Recipe from Celebration Generation