White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies – buttery cookies filled with chunks of juicy cherries and white chocolate, dipped in more white chocolate. A perfect holiday cookie!
I love giving homemade treats for the holidays, especially fresh baked cookies like these. Some of my favorites are White Dipped Gingersnaps, Brown Sugar Shortbread, and M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Since I love maraschino cherries in baked goods, when I saw the recipe for these little shortbread cookies with cherries and white chocolate, I knew I had to give them a try. My family sampled them as soon as the chocolate set, and they were a huge hit to say the least.
I let everyone have two, and even the non-cherry lovers kept begging for more until I threatened to make them wash dishes if they didn’t stop bothering me. Not really. I am a perfect mom and I never get irritated by my wonderful children. Haha.
If you like white chocolate or cherries, you should give this easy shortbread recipe a try. Like soon. They are buttery and just melt in your mouth. The white chocolate makes them extra yummy! Plus they look so pretty with the little cherries peeking out.
How to Make Maraschino Cherry Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients needed:
- maraschino cherries
- all purpose flour
- sugar
- butter
- white chocolate chips
- almond extract
- vegetable oil and shortening
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or fork. Add the cherries, almond extract, 2/3 cup white chocolate, and food coloring if desired.
Knead for a few minutes till the dough becomes smooth. \ Roll dough into 1″ balls and place on cookie sheets. Use the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar to flatten each of the balls out. Bake at 325° for about 10-12 minutes. Cool completely.
In a small glass bowl, melt the shortening in the microwave. Add the 1 1/3 cups white chocolate. Microwave at half power, stirring every 30 seconds, till smooth. Dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place on parchment paper or silicone pan liners till chocolate sets up.
HOW TO STORE SHORTBREAD COOKIES
If stored in an airtight container, these cookies will last for up to a week. To store them longer, you can freeze them. I like to use heavy duty ziplock freezer bags.
PRO TIPS:
-Let the butter sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes, or till it is barely softened. If it is too hard, it is challenging to get it worked into the flour mixture.
-Make sure to drain the cherries well, or the dough will be too wet, and loose the shortbread texture.
-Use your hands to mix in the cherries and chopped chocolate. A mixer can tend to make the cookies tough. And I have found that using my hands is much faster than using a spoon.
-Use vegetable oil or shortening when melting the white chocolate. Butter and margarine have water in them, and they can cause the chocolate to seize up and turn lumpy.
A VERSATILE SHORTBREAD RECIPE
These cookies perfect addition to any Christmas cookie tray, and they are great for neighbor gifts. But because of their pretty pink color, they are also great for bridal showers, baby showers, and Valentines Day. I just served them at my daughter’s baby shower, and they were a big hit!
VARIATIONS:
- Switch up the type of chocolate in the cookies, or the dipping chocolate. You could use semi sweet or dark chocolate for one or both of them.
- We love the almond flavor with the cherries, but you can substitute vanilla extract if you prefer.
MORE MARASCHINO CHERRY RECIPES:
- Maraschino Cherry Bars
- Cherry Almond Mousse Pie
- Chocolate Cherry Cookies
- Cherry Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Cherry Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate
White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ½ cup maraschino cherries finely chopped
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup cold butter
- ⅔ cup white chocolate chips chopped
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 2 drops red food coloring optional
For dipping:
- 1 ⅓ cups white chocolate chips
- 2 tsp shortening or oil NOT butter or margarine!
Instructions
- Let cold butter sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Drain and chop the cherries; set aside.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork. After the butter/flour mixture is crumbly, add the cherries, almond extract, 2/3 cup white chocolate, and food coloring. It will still be really crumbly, but don't panic. Knead for a few minutes till the dough becomes smooth.
- Roll dough into 1" balls and place on baking sheets. Use the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar to flatten each of the balls out.
- Bake at 325° for about 10-12 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.
- In a small glass bowl, melt the shortening in the microwave. Add the 1 1/3 cups white chocolate. Microwave at half power, stirring every 30 seconds, till smooth.
- Dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place on waxed paper or silicone pan liners till chocolate sets up.
Nutrition
(Originally published 11/29/2011, updated November 2019.)
See all my COOKIE RECIPES.
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These were so tasty! The perfect holiday cookie with a fun twist.
They are one of my favorites, glad you liked them!
Can this dough be made ahead and frozen for easy access closer to the holidays?
I I made these tonite. The almond extract is listed in the ingredients needed, but not in the instructions, and as a result I left It out. They don’t have much taste except mild cherry, but are still good. Did need to add early 1/4 c. cherry juice because no amount of kneading would bring this to a manageable dough. They dipped well into the white Chocolate. Thank you!
Dang, can’t believe I didn’t add that step in the instructions. I’ve fixed it now. Glad you liked them. I bet you’d like them even more with the almond extract, it adds a yummy flavor boost!
We made these just before Christmas. They are wonderful, easy to go back for more! ???? Very pretty cookie. We did not add any food coloring but did add a little more cherries and a little bit of the cherry juice (couldn’t resist) and the cookies turned out just as pink as in your pictures. Very pretty yummy cookies!
Glad you enjoyed them. I’m all for adding more cherries! 🙂
I hate to post this here but couldn’t find an email to contact you at. Just wanted to let you know that Sweet Nothings Desserts facebook page has your picture of the above cookies posted on her page as her own and even went as far as to crop out your water mark and add her own. You can easily tell the cookies she has posted are yours from above. Just about any crisp clear picture she has posted if you google the item you can find the image and a link back to a blog.
This is my first day on pintrest. I found this recipe and thought I just HAD to make them for Valentines Day. I’m really excited.
I found this recipe via pinterest too. They’re some amazing cookies!
I made these tonight. They are good but to me and my husband, they are too sweet with the white chocolate on them. So we rolled them in coconut before baking and man they were very good. We think it even brings out the almond and cherry flavors more. Very good recipe- love the way they look!!
“look” not “looks” sorry
They looks so pretty…I am sure they taste great too!
Um, YUM! These are perfect for Christmas!!
They looks so pretty and yummy!!!
Thanks so much! They really are as yummy as they look. 🙂
These are such a pretty cookie. The ladies coming to your Craft and Tell party are going to be asking for the recipe for them 🙂
They always do. I think this might be the first time I actually thought ahead and had the recipe posted so I could direct people straight to it. 😉