Cherry Vanilla Drops

My baking equipment is in revolt. I don’t blame it. I outright lied. The proof is in yesterday’s post. I’d promised my baking equipment a small break from this baking madness. It’s served me well these last few weeks. It really deserved a break. And then the cookie mania took hold again. I just had to have those little thumbprint cookies with the marashino cherries. It couldn’t wait a few days. I needed them immediately.

So, moments after I hit the publish button on yesterday’s post, I took three sticks of butter out of the fridge to soften. I’m pretty sure that’s what clued the baking equipment in; those conspicuous sticks of butter sitting on the counter. If I were smart, I would have hidden them in the dining room. But, on the counter they sat. And then, when it came time to mix up the cookie dough, my electric mixer was nowhere to be found. Nowhere.

Now, for anyone who knows me and my not-so-borderline obsessive compulsive tendencies, you’d realize that this is an unusual occurrence. I don’t misplace things very often. Everything has a place. In this case, the mixer’s place is back in its original box, in the pantry, next to the mini food processor. But when I went to said place, there was no mixer. Just an empty box. Befuddled doesn’t begin to explain my reaction. I scanned the kitchen, scanned the pantry, scanned the dining room. No mixer.

After a bit of searching, I finally found the mixer, cord wrapped around it, hiding in a basket in the pantry, under a pile of chocolate chips and marshmallows. That is most definitely not where I would have put my mixer.

My current theory is that the mixer caught sight of the butter on the counter and tried to make a run for it. When it realized it had no legs or other form of locomotion, it simply took cover and hoped for the best. Sorry dear mixer, my best is better than your best. I win. We’re making cookies.

I started with a Martha Stewart recipe for thumbprint cookies, but since my version doesn’t involve any thumb-sized indentations, it hardly seems appropriate to call them thumbprint cookies. So, based on my addition of a healthy dose of vanilla and sweet marashino cherries, I’m dubbing these little guys Cherry Vanilla Drops.

Cherry Vanilla Drops

Adapted from Aunt Maggie’s Jam Thumbprints via Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 3 sticks Butter, softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 3 1/4 cups Flour
• 4 dozen Marashino Cherries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat for another minute or two, until well combined. Gradually add the flour, until evenly blended. Roll the dough into balls, about 1″ diameter. Place about two inches apart on a baking sheet. Press a marashino cherry into the center of each ball. Bake for about 18 minutes, until the edges just begin to turn golden. Cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen