.'tis the season.

 

I have a confession. I feel as though I should tell you all I have a little bit of a blog crush on the Pioneer Woman. My cousin Mandy introduced me to her website and I have been hooked ever since. She cooks. She bakes. She takes pictures of her children covered in manure. And so much more. I love it.

A short while ago she had a cookie week, in preparation for Christmas, no doubt. I bookmarked many of the recipes to try and this is the first one I got around to. I remember having something like this growing up but it wasn't one of the yearly traditional cookies that my grandmother made.

These cookies are off the chain. For real. They are light, airy, buttery and delicious. It's taking all of our self-control for me and the man to not go eat the rest of them right now. I halved the recipe and didn't add any of the lemon or orange zest, as I only had one stick of butter and no lemon or orange. I also used whole cherries for each cookie, rather than cutting them in half. The Pioneer Woman's recipe is here. And mine is below.

Christmas Cherries makes 13 cookies
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or the juice of one lemon)
1 cup flour, double sifted
Candied cherries (green or orange)

Cream the butter and sugar together until combined. Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Mix until combined. You may need to scrape the bowl periodically to get everything together. Add the flour, mix. Place dough in a ziplock bag, or cover the bowl with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. After the dough is cold enough take it out and roll it into small balls. I was able to get 13 out of a half batch. Press a candied cherry lightly into the dough. Bake for 20 minutes.

XO