Dried Cherry Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate Drizzle

When it comes to baking and desserts, I seem to have lots of favourites.  So today I want to share another one – shortbread cookies!

Now to make these shortbreads even more over the top I added chopped dried cherries and a white chocolate drizzle.  If I were Rachel Ray, I would totally be saying, “Yum-o!” because these shortbread cookies literally melt in your mouth. I absolutely love how these turned out!

If you are feeling like substituting in ingredients you can add other chopped dried fruit or nuts if you aren’t allergic.  If you don’t have white chocolate at home or you don’t like it, you can make an icing sugar and milk drizzle instead.  For that I suggest 1 cup of sifted icing sugar and about 2-3 teaspoons of milk.  Stir it slowly and if you need more moisture add another teaspoon of milk.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup coarsely chopped dried tart cherries

Instructions:

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in the egg. Add the flour and beat on the lowest speed until just blended. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the dried cherries.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape it into a log, about 12-inches long and 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (Dough can be made up to 3 days in advance).

Arrange an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the log crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices. Transfer the dough slices to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1-inch apart. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges and puffed, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before icing, about 30 minutes.

For the white chocolate drizzle melt white chocolate chips until smooth.  I melted the white chocolate using a double boiler so that the chocolate melts slowly.  I then piped the white chocolate onto the top of the cookies as neatly as possible.