Treats of Christmas Day 6

In my "Dream World" I am organized and terribly efficient. However, in my REAL life, I have a bit of difficulty connecting the desire for efficiency and organization to what is really going on!  This is why you might be scratching your head right about now wondering how we went from day 1-3 to day 6 &7 in big hurry!!
All of these cookies get made, sometimes it just happens all in one day!!! :) enjoy!


Day 6:  Chocolate Cherry Cookies 

This is another Earl addition.  I never even heard of these things until I met him.  Apparently his mom made something similar when he was a kid, and now we make it for our kids.  Cookies that taste like chocolate covered cherries, who could go wrong with that?


 Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 (10 oz) jars marichino cherries, drain one jar and reserve the juice
• 6 oz (half a bag) semisweet chocolate chips
• 12 cup sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.  You'll need 2 cookie sheets, ungreased, or lined with parchent.
2. In a large bowl: combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda, blending well.  Set aside. 
3. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar on low speed until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla; beat well.
4. Gradually add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; beat until smooth and well blended.
5. Shape dough into walnut sized, 1 inch balls; place on an ungreased baking sheet about an inch apart.  Press an indent in the center with your thumb.  Place a cherry in each cookie's indent.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, or until firm.  Cool on a cooling rack. 
7. Meanwhile:  in a small saucepan, combine chocolate and sweetened condensed milk; heat over low heat and stirring until chocolate is melted.  Add 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. of the reserved cherry juice, stirring well to combine.  Remove from heat.  Will thicken while it cools.  If becomes too thick to use, rewarm when ready for next step.  If still too thick, thin with a little more cherry juice.
8. Place cookies on parchment and spoon about 1 tsp. of the topping over each cherry, spreading to cover if necessary.   
9. Topping will crust over, but not completely harden.  Keep this in mind while storing them, for they will stick together if you choose to stack them without a barrier like parchment in between.  Store in an airthight container room temp for no more than 3-4 days, keep  in fridge or freezer for longer storage.

Day 7:  Chocolate Drizzle Cherry Bars

Yield: 36 bars

These are from the Land O Lakes' booklet "Fresh and Easy, Vegetarian"  published July 2003.  Yes, they were originally for the summer... but the bars are fantastic, and another easy whip up.  When company stops by, throw these together with stuff you already have in the cupboard and you're ready to go in a pinch.  Chocolate and cherries... need I say more?

Ingredients:

Crumb mix:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups quick cooking oats (not instant... think Quaker Oats out of the drum, not packets from the box)
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups butter, softened

Filling:

• 1 (21 oz) can cherry pie filling
• 1 tsp. almond extract

Drizzle:

• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Combine all crumb mixture ingredients in a large bowl.  Beat at low speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture; press remaining crumb mixture onto the bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned.
2. Meanwhile, combine all filling ingredients in a bowl.  Spead filling over hot, partially baked crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.  Continue baking for 27-30 minutes or until lightly browned.
3. Melt chocolate.  Drizzle over bars. 
4. Cool completely; cut into rectangles, diamonds or squares.
5. Store in airtight container.