Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Using It Up: Candied Cherries


Melting Moments
Reader’s Digest Cookies 1,001 Mouthwatering Recipes From Around The World Copyright 2004

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/ 8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups finely chopped candied cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two cookie sheets. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla, beating until just blended. Mix in the dry ingredients and cherries. Form the dough into balls the size of walnuts and place 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until just golden, rotating the sheets halfway through for even baking. Cool on the sheets until the cookies firm slightly. Transfer to racks to finish cooling.

Makes 28-30 cookies.
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When I went to buy the candied cherries to make my fruit cake for Christmas, I could only find the large container of the red cherries in the store I was shopping in. I could have gone to another store for the smaller container but it was Christmas time and I was tired of shopping so I bought the bigger container. I wasn't sure what to do with the leftover cherries. I don't see a lot of recipes that call for them in most of my cookbooks but then I realized they appeared more frequently in some of my baking cookbooks that have a European slant. It may be hard to explain what I mean by that but I have a lot of cookbooks that have American measurements but they have clearly not been born and raised in the U.S. This book for instance was 'conceived, edited and designed' in Italy.

Then I was faced with too many choices! I found lots of recipes calling for candied cherries. I went with this recipe since I knew the guys at work would like it. It's a basic cookie. The cherries don't add that much except a different texture and sweetness of course. I don't find candied cherries to be all that flavorful.

I think there are a lot of cookies named Melting Moments and most are probably nothing like this recipe but I just bake 'em, I don't name 'em.

4 comments:

Annie Jones said...

How do you think these would turn out with drained maraschino cherries? I have some of those in the pantry.

The Cookbook Junkie said...

I think they would be even better. Maraschino cherries have that nice almond flavor that I love.

If you have coconut and pecans too, try Cherry Cherry Cookies. They are really good.

Tammy said...

Paula, don't you feel like driving to Ohio and bringing me some of these? They look soooo good!!

Mae Russell said...

I have seen your recipe and they are heavenly. By the way, I also have problems with candied cherries and I would like to share with you and the readers that you can purchase them online!