Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Well I think they're cheery



Cherry Cherry Cookies
Silver Spring Presbyterian Church Cookbook ’98 Copyright 1998

1 c. packed brown sugar
¾ c. margarine, softened I used half butter, half butter-flavored Crisco
1 egg
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
½ c. maraschino cherries, well drained and chopped
½ c. chopped pecans
½ c. flaked coconut

In a large mixing bowl, cream brown sugar, sugar, butter, egg, milk and vanilla. Combine flour, salt, baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Fold in cherries, pecans and coconut. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 4 dozen

Last year I made these cookies just to use up some extra ingredients I had lying around after baking all my other cookies. I really liked them so I added them to the line up. I almost couldn't find the recipe because I wrote it down as 'Cheery Cherry Cookies'. I searched through the indexes of almost all of my cookbooks to no avail and I finally came across this while looking for something else. I don't understand the double cherries in the title but that's the official name. I don't name 'em, I just bake 'em.

I had no margarine this year so I used half-butter and half butter-flavored Crisco since I bought the Crisco for my next recipe and I was trying to conserve butter since I'm running low. This was my first experience with butter-flavored Crisco and it wasn't so bad, but butter is always better. I like that these cookies stayed round and plump instead of spreading and I was pleased with the texture that resulted from using the Crisco.

These cookies are quite salty but I love the contrast of the salt against the sweet cherries. There's something about the combination of the cherries, coconut and pecans that really reminds me of Christmas.

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