Cherry Almond Cookies with Chocolate

These cookies are described in the original recipe as Cherry Garcia cookies, and they do have the elements that you find in that ice cream: cherries, almonds, and chocolate. I have made a version of Cherry Garcia cookies, but they were a little different. I also made some changes to the recipe, so it felt a bit strange calling them by the same name as the other cookies.

The original recipe called for chopped maraschino cherries, but I didn’t have as many as I needed. One of the commenters on the original blog asked if you could use dried cherries, and she thought that would work. I ended up using dried cherries, which is just a little different. I didn’t want to add chocolate chips, so I added chocolate by way of the melted chocolate on top of the cookies. I think they turned out just fine and I used up ingredients that I had on hand.

These cookies are not difficult, but chopping dried fruit is never easy. I was trying to find equivalent volume measure for the maraschino cherries, but I gave up and eyeballed about 1 ½ cups. The dough starts fairly wet and runny, but that dissipates when you add other ingredients. Finally, my main issue was that my kitchen was really warm, and the chocolate wasn’t setting, so I did have to refrigerate the cookies to help the chocolate set. These are very tasty cookies, with good chocolate and cherry flavor, with a hint of almond, and with the chocolate drizzle they look very fancy!

Cherry Almond Cookies with Chocolate
1 ½ cups dried cherries, chopped
½ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
½ cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon cherry extract
2 ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt

About 1 cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Chop the dried cherries into small pieces and set aside. In a large mixer bowl, add the butter, oil, sugar, and powdered sugar. Mix on medium until the ingredients are well mixed. Add the egg, almond and cherry extracts and mix again on medium to incorporate. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix until the flour has almost disappeared into the dough. Add the chopped dried cherries and stir to distribute them throughout the dough.

Shape the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, place the chocolate chips and vegetable shortening in a medium bowl. Microwave, in 30-second increments, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
    
Drizzle some of the melted chocolate over the cookies and then dip them partially in chocolate. Allow the chocolate to set before serving.

Recipe from Crème de la Crumb