Chocolate Oatmeal Cherry Scones

Today's post is for the Lady the behind the Curtain Challenge.   This month's challenge was bake something with Chocolate and Cherries.  That worked out well for me I have been wanting to make Chocolate Cherry Scones for quite some time now.   Who doesn't love Chocolate for breakfast especially Today also being Valentines day. I also tried my best to make them as healthy as possible, used oats and whole wheat flour, no cream and not a lot of sugar.    Just perfect.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!

Pecan Cherry Butter Tarts and a Giveaway!

My little girl is two months old as of yesterday.  Wow, this has been a fast two months but an awesome two months. A few small moments of insanity off set by a million moments of joy and laughter. I think we spend half our days now sticking out our tongue and blowing our lips trying to make her smile.  We survived our first set of shots this past Monday quite well. Might have been worse for Mommy than baby.  I even sit here finishing up this post as she just lays beside me,  not sleeping unfortunately but not crying.  She is just content at staring off to the ceiling.   Sleep training hasn't quite started yet, maybe another month or so and I am sure you will hear all about my trials and tribulations.  Any tips the moms out there would like to offer in advance?

I needed a break from cookies and bars so here are some yummy gooey tarts to tempt you.   See below for the the giveaway.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Blondies with White Chocolate & Cherries

So I am nesting.  I did some serious cleaning and organizing this weekend and I am not done.  My list of items to get organized is still about 3 or 4 long but I am happy with the progress.  This past weekend I cleaned out my pantry and cleaned out my car.   I really should have taken some before and after pics to show you.   Even the hubby couldn't believe the pantry cupboard,  all organized in nice little rows.  The only sad thing was the amount of stale items that hit the garbage.  And my car feels like new again, I dusted, vacuumed and shampooed the seats and mats.  I was a machine this weekend.
Funny leave it to a new baby to force a clean and purge considering the amount of new baby stuff will probably be twice what I threw out but could you imagine the madness if you didn't go through nesting.

My next stop will be closets, clothes and the dreaded office. A dumping ground for papers, books and anything else we don't know where to put.  Scary!  This won't be the first time we have tackled this room but after a year it just makes its way back to madness.   I will keep you posted on that madness.

I will continue with the fall blogger pumpkin obsession because frankly pumpkin desserts are so delicious.  I can honestly say this won't be my last pumpkin item this year.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Blondies with White Chocolate Chips and Dried Cherries. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped dried cherries

Icing:

• 1/4 cup butter, room temp.
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, room temp
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar (give or take)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter a 8 inch square pan. 

2) In a medium bowl, add flour, cornstarch, baking powder/soda, cinnamon and salt. 

3) Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl or mixer bowl and beat until creamed together.

4) Add pumpkin, eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. 

5) Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix on low until almost combined.

6) Fold in chocolate chips and dried cherries.

7) Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 30 minutes,  outside will be starting to brown on edges and tooth pick will come out clean. 

8) Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Cut into squares and serve.
9) Make the icing : In a large bowl or mixer bowl beat together butter and cream cheese.  Add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and beat together until just combined.  Adding more sugar if you want a stiffer icing.

This post is also on the Have the Cake blog with a lot more wonderful pumpkin recipes.

MEG's RATING : D-EEEE-LICOUS

Apple Cakes with Toffee & Dried Cherries

I am a fan of positive background noise.  When I work in the kitchen, I can't have silence and the sound of my mixer doesn't cut it.   I just need to have some noise going on in the background and it has to be noise I enjoy.  This would be either the food network, music or a good TV show.  My latest noise is Arrested Development. I never watched the show when it was actually airing but I decided to go back and check it out. Season 1 started off slow but I kept on going.  Season 2 is much better. Some characters are still annoying, but getting a lot funnier.   How can you also not love Jason Bateman.   Any one else have any background noise preference?

My latest recipe is a revival of one of the first posts I ever did.  It's funny how you can totally forget some of the delicious treats you have baked in the past.   Luckily my friend Tracey happens to remember and make some of these recipes for her family.  I remember this recipe being a pretty great and figured why not make it again.  I also decided to make a few tweaks and turn them into little cakes,  everyone loves an individual dessert.

Individual Apple Cakes
(Adapted from Cooking light)


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup sugar + 2 tbsp 
• 3/4 cup  (6 ounces) light cream cheese, softened 
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 cups chopped,  peeled apples 
• 1/2 cup skor bits
• 1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped.  

INSTRUCTIONS:

1)) Preheat oven to 350F. Mix together 2 tbsp of the granulated sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples and mix together.  

2)  In a large bowl or your mixer bowl, beat together the remaining sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium speed until well blended.  Add eggs one at a time and set aside. 

3)  In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture on low speed.
4) Stir in apples, dried cherries and skor bits into the batter until just mixed.
5) Spray mini cheesecake pans with non stick spray. Pour 1/4 cup batter into each hole.   Bake for 20-25 minutes until at toothpick comes out clean.

Still as good as I remember.

MEG's RATING : D-EEEEE-LICIOUS!

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Pear Cherry Crumble Pie

Did anyone watch the Golden Globes last night?  I sat here staring at my screen for quite some time not writing any thing.   Every time I tempted to write something I lost my train of thought and then got distracted again by pretty dresses and handsome men.

Something about pears..don't remember, George Clooney arrived.  Dried Cherries, blah blah, don't remember Adam Levine showed up.   And then I was laughing at Ricky Gervais.   Not mean and still funny.

Back to crumble pies...,  I love any kind of crumble.  Any fruit, any nut,  bring it on.   Crumbles are easy,  almost impossible to screw up, sweet, tart, nutty and crunchy all in one bite.  What's not to love?

What are your favorite crumble flavours?

Pear Cherry Crumble Pie
(adapted from Fine Cooking)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Pie Crust - pre-made or homemade (whatever you have time for - mine was pre-made)

Crumble

• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed

Filling

• 4-5 Barlett pears, peeled, chopped & cubed
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Combine dry crumble ingredients in a medium bowl and mix together.  Add butter and mix together with your hands, mixing together moistening the crumble.   It will get darker as the butter is absorbed.

2) Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl and toss together to coat the pears with the
sugar/cinnamon.

3) Take 1/2 cup of the filling and mix it in with the pears.   Add filling to the pie dough.

4) Top the pie with remaining crumble.  Bake @ 350F for 50 minutes on a baking sheet.
5) Let cool slightly, serve warm with ice cream.    Pie can be reheated if not served right away.

And all the remained was an empty silver tin.  This might be one of my favorite combinations to date.  This might have to replace my holiday apple crumble.

MEG's RATING - D-EEEEE-LICIOUS

12 Days of Cookies - Day 5 - Florentines & The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

Today's cookies are not just day 5 cookies, they are my cookie swap cookies.  When I saw the Great Food Blogger Cookie swap through Love and Olive Oil.   I signed right up.  How cool was this idea,  a cookie swap across two countries.  It is crazy.   It is a great to meet new bloggers and find new amazing blogs.   The best part 3 dozen different cookies showed up at my door.   I got so excited every time a box arrived I ripped it open immediately 

These are the cookies I  received : 

1) Haystack Butterscotch Cornflake Cookies from K&K Test Kitchen

2) Nutella Coconut Haystack Cookies from Cravings of a Lunatic

3) Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti from The Bold Baker

They were all absolutely delicious!!

The tricky thing with sending cookies across the country is you have to make sure they will hold up and not fall apart.  I also wanted to choose something that wouldn't go stale, knowing the mail could take longer than I wanted. I have never made florentines before but always have wanted to try them.   They have so many amazing attributes - fruit, nuts and caramel.   

(Adapted from Cuisine Holiday Cookies)

INGREDIENTS:

Crust

• 3/4 cup (6 oz0 unsalted butter
• 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup gluten free all purpose
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp orange zest

Filling

• 3 oz unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries 
• 1/2 cup dried apricots or dried cherries
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1/2 cup bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a 10 inch square pan with parchment and spray with non stick spray. 

2) In a large bowl or mixer bowl beat together butter and egg yolks until combined, a few minutes.   Add brown sugar and 1 tsp zest until light and creamy.   

3) Add flour and salt and blend until just combined.  Spread the dough in to the pan with an offset spatula.   Bake crust until golden, about 15 minutes.   Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

4) Make the filling: Heat butter, sugar, cream and honey over medium heat. Continue to cook until a candy thermometer reaches 240F, about 5 minutes. 

5)  Remove from heat and stir in almonds, zest and dried fruit.  Pour over cooled crust. Bake 15 minutes @ 350F.

6)  Allow bars to cool on a wire rack.  Ensure bars are completely cool before cutting.  Sliced in your desired size and shape.

7)  Heat the chocolate over a double boiler until completely melted and smooth.    Drizzle over bars through a piping bag or loosely with a fork.

I hope all my recipients liked the Florentines.   I sure did.  Chewy, crunchy and sweet, these cookies are the entire package.  I made two batches of these.  One with dried cherries and dried cranberries and one with dried apricots and dried cranberries.   I mailed a mix of both to each person.   If you are not a huge fan of orange zest, leave it out.  This can be a strong taste.

A huge THANK YOU  to Julie and Lindsay  for organizing the cookie swap and to the three ladies who sent me awesome cookies.  I can't wait to see all of the cookies people made and  I look forward to next years,

MEG's RATING: D-EEEEE-LICIOUS

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Day 4 - M&M Rice Krispie Cookies

Fruit & Oatmeal Breakfast Bites

I admit I drink protein shakes for breakfast, pretty much 5 days a week.   There are a few reasons for this.  1) I fear I don't get enough protein in my day and I think it is important to start your day with some.   2) I go into work for 7:30 and I really don't give myself enough time to stop and eat.   3) I have learned to like them, even though they may look thick and chalky.

Some days I wish I had more time to make breakfast and by breakfast I don't mean cereal.   I mean pancakes, waffles and stratas.   I am never worried about my egg intake I eat a lot of those, mostly hard boiled.  Most days there just isn't time or the timing is off.   On the weekend when I would want to make them, my husband is usually up and eating before me because I am working out and I would feel bad making waffles just for me.  I did however decide to make myself a little breakfast bar, which I turned into muffin bites.   These bites also use one of my favorite ingredients - quinoa.   Not the whole grain however, quinoa flour.  If you have never used this before quinoa flour has a very distinct taste and smell so I recommend you never use it as the only flour in the recipe.  If you need to remain gluten free, use a brown rice or gluten free all purpose.  I once made a cake with quinoa flour and threw it out because I thought it was bad.   Lesson learned. 

Fruit & Oatmeal Breakfast Bites

(Adapted from Quinoa 365)

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1/3 cup silvered almonds
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 unsweetened applesauce - used homemade from my sister in law
• 1/2 quinoa flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1/4 cup ground flax
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups large flake oats
• 1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cherries

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Preheat the oven to 350F.   Toast the almonds on a baking sheet/stoneware for about 10-15 minutes, until fragrant and lightly browned.    Line two muffin tins with silicon muffin cups.
2) In your mixer bowl or a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add orange juice, vanilla and eggs and mix until fully combined.

3) Stir in the applesauce

4) In a medium bowl, mix together both flours, flax, baking powder, soda, and salt.  Add this mixture to the wet mixture and beat to combine.

5) Add oats, almonds, cherries, coconut and apricots and stir to fully combine.  Make sure everything is well incorporated.   Chill the mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes.

6) Using a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop , place rounds into the muffins tins and then press down to flatten.  Bake in the center for 16-18 minutes, until edges are lightly golden.   Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then  turn out on a wire rack.  Do not over bake or these will dry out.   I over baked my first batch and they were a bit drier so I just ate those ones first.    Store them for 2 weeks in a sealed container in the fridge (or garage in the winter if you live where it is cold) 

These are a perfect little snack with your morning coffee, a easy breakfast addition to feed your holiday guests or just take two for  breakfast on the run.  They are packed with fiber and fruit to keep you full all morning.  I love dried fruit and oatmeal so these just called my name so easily.   Any dried fruit lovers out there?  Cherries are my favorite, but you could use other dried fruit or nuts if you wanted.  

MEG's RATING: D-EEEE-LICIOUS

Oatmeal Cherry Cookies

I mentioned a few weeks back I have recently gotten back into yoga, specifically hot yoga.    If you have never tried it, you must.  For one hour you can destress, detox, clear your mind, stretch and strength your muscles.  It's one hour for me to simply relax, breathe and focus.   I was talking with the owner, Jasna about my blog and love for baking and she mentioned she had some great recipes of her own.  I told her to bring them asap so I could test them out.  She brought me in two recipes so far, oatmeal cookies and banana bread.   First up the cookies,  with some minor minor tweaks. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup cinnamon cream cheese
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat
• 2 cups of quick cooking oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries

INSTRUCTIONS:


1) Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line one or two baking sheets with silpat or parchment.
2) Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl

3) Add butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large or mixer bowl.  Cream together.   Add the eggs and vanilla,  mix to combine.

4) Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix to just combine.  Fold dried cherries/cranberries until just incorporated

5) Using a mini ice cream scoop place the dough on to the parchment about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool.  Dough can also be stored in a sealed container in the freezer for a month.

I am definitely a fan of the softer, chewier cookie, especially if it is chocolate chip style of cookie.  These cookies were just that. They were soft little oatmeal cinnamon pillows.   However when it comes to oatmeal cookies I think I am undecided on whether all soft is all better.  Do I need my oatmeal cookie to have a slight bite to it.   Hmmm.. I am undecided for now as these were quite wonderful.  Maybe I will just cook these a bit longer next time.  My co-workers also loved the soft cookie and they were no crumbs left unturned.    Thanks for the great recipe!

MEG's RATING: D-EEEE-LICIOUS

Pumpkin Cornmeal Oat Loaf

I can't seem to go long with out craving some sort of pumpkin dessert. There is something so comforting and warming about anything pumpkin (except pumpkin pie which I oddly don't like.)  Pumpkins are also very good for you, high in beta  and alpha carotene,  which help keep your immune system healthy by acting as an anti-inflammatory.   Pumpkins are high in fiber and rich in potassium as well as Vitamin C, E and Iron.  Now of course when I incorporate butter and sugar along with it I lose some of these nutritional benefits but I feel I am being nutrition neutral and not subtractive.  Using pumpkin in desserts is also a good  way to use up the left over pumpkin that has been sitting in my refrigerator.  One of my favorite things to make with the pumpkin is a quick loaf, add in some dried fruit and nuts for crunch and you have your self a wonderful snack.   I recently came across a recipe for a pumpkin and cornmeal cake that looked quite interesting, tweaked a few things and viola.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 large eggs, whites & yolks separated
• 1 cup (8 oz) pumpkin, canned
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup fine ground yellow cornmeal (not coarse)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup dried cherries

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray  9inch loaf pan with cooking spray or brush with butter.   With your stand or hand mixer beat butter and sugar until well creamed.  Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well.  Scrape down the sides if needed to incorporate.    Beat in the pumpkin and vanilla.   

2) In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, oats, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.   Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture in three parts, mix using a wooden spoon or spatula.   Do not over mix. 

3) In a small bowl, whisk or whip the remaining egg whites until soft peaks form.   Gently fold in the whites into the pumpkin mixture, along with the cherries and walnuts until just combined. 

4) Scrape into the prepared pan, bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides, about 40-45min.   Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes and then place cake on wire rack to cool.  

I was expecting this to rise more than it did but I rather enjoyed this. Although a bit denser than I prefer, it was the perfect amount of pumpkin. The loaf was moist, with lots of varying textures from the walnuts and cherries, with the cornmeal giving the loaf a cornbread like feeling.  The original recipe used orange zest and no cinnamon but I think the cinnamon really brought out a lot of flavour especially with the walnuts.   Pumpkin and cinnamon are just a natural pair.   I would make this again but maybe I will look to add a healthier spin next time around so I can actually reap the goodness of the  pumpkin.

MEG's RATING : D-EEE-LICIOUS

A Day of Cookies

So far I am not very good at keeping up with this blog on daily/weekly basis but I am trying.  Here is what happened two weekends ago.   For the last couple years my friend Heather and I get together for a day of baking.  We pick about 4-5 cookie recipes and spend the day baking and enjoying the day together.   The goal is to try and pick cookies we wouldn't always think to make on a regular basis or that may be a little different.  We decided on the 5 cookies below.

1. Martha Stewart's Candy Stripe Cookie Sticks
2. Martha Stewart's Honeyed Almond Cherry Shortbread
3. Coconut Macaroons
4. Chocolate Thumbprints
5. Sugar Cookies

I will tell you now we never completed them all but it was close.   First step was to make the sugar cookie dough so that it could chill for rolling.  While I was making the dough Heather started on the Coconut Macaroons.  We decided to mix it up a little by putting a chocolate covered almond inside, putting our own spin on an Almond Joy.   I also discovered in this process of preparing for baking day that I own A LOT of Christmas cookie magazines, which only means A LOT of untapped recipes. A very exciting finding indeed.   The coconut macaroon recipe came from one of these magazines, 2009 Holiday Baking by Cuisine at Home.

COCONUT MACAROONS

INGREDIENTS :

• 2 cups sweetened shredded Coconut (7 oz)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp minced orange zest
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 3 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped. 

INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Preheat oven to 350, line baking sheet with parchment or silpat.
2) Whisk together coconut, sugar, flour, zest and salt in a bowl.  Stir in egg whites, butter and almond extract.   Fold in chocolate.
3) Drop tablespoon sizes balls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
Bake macaroons (one sheet at a time) until macaroons are firm to touch and lightly brown on the bottoms, 20 minutes.   Let macaroons cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.

OUR VARIATION :  Instead of putting in the chopped chocolate, we wrapped the coconut dough around a chocolate covered almond.  We also skipped the orange zest, mostly because we didn't have any.

We did find the batter spread a bit more than the picture but we did double the recipe so it was maybe a bit more runny than it was supposed.    There were quite tasty though.    I would attempt to make these again on other forms and make sure the dough was a bit drier to prevent spreading.

MEG'S RATING: D-EE-LICIOUS!


COOKIE STRIP COOKIES




We decided to move on to the hardest recipe next, which according to Martha this was her hardest recipe in her 12 days of Cookies.   Sadly we found this out and the video on how to complete them after we were all done.   Go figure!  We did not double this batch and thank goodness.  Although the batter looks small you use a tiny amount for each cookie as you need to spread the cookie into a very thin rectangle with offset spatula.   We went through several iterations of thickness and size and in the end, I will give the kudos to Heather who mastered it.  I seem to be useful when they were hot out of the oven and you had to roll them immediately into sticks.    My advice is to watch her video so you can really get a feel for how they look and how to much batter to use.
Recipe and video link :  http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/candy-stripe-cookie-sticks

Martha suggests actually creating a rectangular template to ensure each piece is uniform but we didn't.   Depending on how many you choose to make using a template could take a long time.
It is also tricky to not have a portion of the cookie brown which can make it difficult to roll.  These cookies were cool but time consuming.  Not an everyday cookie but great for the holidays.

MEG's RATING: D-EE-LICIOUS!











HONEYED ALMOND CHERRY SHORTBREAD


While Heather was busy making thin rectangles, I started to put together the dough for the shortbread.

IINGREDIENTS:  

• 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
• 2 tbsp of sherry   (Heather and I used Vanilla)
• 1 tbsp of orange zest
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 2 tbsp of unsalted butter
• 2 cups lightly toasted sliced almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 8 oz of unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 2 1/4 cups of  AP flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1) Combine the first three ingredients, toss and let stand for 1 hour

2) Make the honeyed almonds : Cook honey and butter in a medium sauce pan on medium heat stirring constantly until fragrant and deep amber about 5 minutes.  Add almonds, salt and vanilla.  Stir to coat completely.  Remove from heat and spread on parchment to cool.  Let cool and coarsely chop. 

3) Make the dough: Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy.  Add cherries and mix until combined.  Add flour and salt and mix until dough just comes together, about 1 minute.  Add almonds and mix until combined. 

4) Turn the dough onto a piece of parchment and form into a 2 1/2 by 16 inch long, pressing edges to shape flat.   Wrap in parchment.   Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.  (Dough can be frozen for up to 3 months) Cut dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and arrange on parchment lined baking sheet.  Chill again for 1 hour.

This is another great recipe by Martha.   We ended up doubling the cherries without doubling the rest of the batch.  I think that only made these cookies better but you need to love dried cherries.  We both do.  
This recipe is also an easy shortbread to put together for those who may have had trouble in the past with shortbread. 





MEG's RATING: D-EEEE-LICIOUS!!!!

We never made it to the sugar cookies so we both left with dough to make them later.  You will also notice chocolate thumb prints in the picture,  they actually didn't really turn out the way they were supposed.  Another batter that spread and flattened more than planned so we didn't really have a good place to put the filling.   I managed to salvage a few cookies for the picture.   Overall it was a GREAT day.   Lots of great cookies, lots of leanings and we had a blast together.