I have always had a very special relationship with Christmas cookies.  My favorite part of the Christmas season may very well be making a different kind of Christmas cookie every week and then eating them 3 at a time.  We have our old standbys, but it is sometimes nice to try something new.  Meg found these White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread cookies (recipe found here) on our dear friend Pinterest spouted as “the best Christmas cookie ever” and obvs we had to try it.  So during our weekend Harry Potter marathon (yah we did it), we put on our baking gloves.  Much gratitude to my new sister-in-law Katie for helping Megan in most of the actual baking while I finished up another Christmas craft that we will show you later.  My life as a straggler.

Ok so start with the ingredients (shown above).  Candle snowman not necessary but he does add to Christmas festiveness.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Pour cherries onto a paper towel to drain the liquid.  Use a Cuisinart to chop them because a knife takes way too long.  Somehow refrain from shoving entire white chocolate bar in your face.  Chop the chocolate to little pieces with a sharp knife.  Or use a Cuisinart on that too because why not.

Combine flour and sugar in a mixing bowl.  The directions say to use a pastry blender to cut in butter but to be honest I’m not sure what that is so just use a regular mixer.  Mix until it looks like crumbs (see below).  Then blend in cherries and 2/3 cup of the chopped white chocolate.  Also add almond extract and red food coloring to make the mixture a nice pink color because pink is pretty.  If you have an aversion to pink, probably don’t add the color.  Knead until it feels doughy.

Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls and put on ungreased cookie sheet.  This part is fun.  Now you take a drinking glass, dip it in sugar, and press down on the cookies to make them 1 inch rounds.  We found that you need to wet the bottom of the glass in order for the sugar to stick.

 Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes.  We had one set of cookies that mysteriously wouldn’t bake so we finally just took them out.  May have been that we opened the oven too often.  Avoid that.  Anywho, transfer cookies to a wire rack (which I actually have!  miracles!) and let cool.  Put the rest of the white chocolate into a small saucepan with shortening.  Cook on low until melted.  Finally, take cooled cookie, dip half into the white chocolate, and roll the edge into the sprinkles.  Then place in mouth.  Or on plate.

And there you have it!  I don’t know if they are THE BEST COOKIE I’VE EVER HAD but they were definitely super delicious and will be put on the Christmas cookie baking list for next year.  Megan and I actually agreed that they were better the second day.  Who knows why.  And they are really cute because they look like Santa hats.  Gotta love that.

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