Cherry White Chocolate Pecan Cookies with Princess Runwilder

For those of you that are new to Sinful Southern Sweets, please meet my youngest baby, Princess Runwilder.

She looks so serious here, because she is about to embark on the very serious art of baking. She is normally a sweet,silly little 3 yr old goofball.Oh look, she finally got back to normal after a few minutes in front of the camera.

Princess Runwilder is the younger sister of Princess Runwild.

She is a sweet, silly 6 yr old goofball. We have been given strict instructions by Princess Runwild not to EVER do anything fun while she is at school. So, if you see my little Princess Runwild, please don't tell her that Runwilder got to bake cookies today. Also, I wouldn't mention that her little sister was wearing her pink polka dot rockstar hairband....she gets her feathers in a fluff about things like that. Runwilder and I both know it. We take turns wearing the pink polka dot rockstar headband:)

So, today the little Runwilder helped me bake cookies. She likes to bake. She doesn't even lick her fingers during the process. Such a professional:)

Runwilder did not really want to use the electric mixer. She wanted to mix it with a spoon. I tried to tell her you only did that when you had no other choice. But, she was insistent. I let her. After 20 minutes she was bored and had not gotten the spoon turned around the bowl more than half a dozen times.  We turned on the electric mixer. Showed the kid the beauty of electricity.

I have for many years glared at the candied cherries in the grocery stores at Christmastime wondering what I would use them for. They are the bright red cherries in plastic tubs camped out next to the mixed candied fruit that people use to make fruit cake. They are not the same as marachino cherries, that you find in a jar. But you could use those, drained. You'll just end up with pink cookies from the small amount of cherry juice. If you like cherries, you will love these cookies. Both the Runwild Princesses  gave them a thumbs up!

Enjoy!

Cherry White Chocolate Pecan Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup chopped candied cherries
• 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chunks

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, with electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until just combined. Set aside.

Sift together flour, soda, and salt. Add milk to the butter mixture and then add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. 

In another bowl, combine nuts, cherries, and white chocolate. Then add to batter, stirring only to blend. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for approximately 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not terribly talented at icing cookies. Don't get me wrong, I love iced cookies. They are usually very yummy and I think they are beautiful. But, I'm just not good at keeping a steady perfect line when piping around the exterior. I usually make a huge mess. When I'm not good at things, I just won't do them. So, without iced cookies on a goody tray, there don't tend to be a lot of colorful cookies. Undoubtedly, when I start pulling together my Christmas goody trays, I start realizing that that everything is brown and white. And, though I have not had any complaints thus far, I thought these Peppermint Marble Cookies would add the perfect splash of color for our holiday treat trays. And best of all... no decorating with icing! Yea!

Enjoy!

Peppermint Marble Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon red food color
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, beat butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour. Divide dough in half. Stir peppermint extract and food color into one half of dough. Divide each color of dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

2. Once the dough is chilled roll each of the doughs out to 1/4 inch thick rectangle.  Cut each rectangle in half.  Working with one half each of the white and red dough, place the white on top of the red and fold the dough in half and then in half again.  Flatten the dough, roll into a log,  fold the dough in half and flatten again.Roll the dough into a tight log, wrap with plastic and chill for at least two hours, or as many as three days.   Repeat with the remaining dough.

3.Cut into 1/4" slices. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. .

4. Bake cookies 7 to 9 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool.