Everyone loves shortbread! Simple and rustic, but never meant to be boring, my Glace Cherry Shortbread is perfectly beautiful and scrumptiously delicious!
Shortbread. What else is there to say? Everyone loves it. Well, I’m about to kick plain old shortbread up a notch with glace cherries – Glace Cherry Shortbread is on the menu today!
My love for glace cherries most certainly wasn’t a lifelong affair. Until last Christmas, I had never even dared try one! (Even though my mom used to bake with them often.) Blogging about food has forced me to try new foods so that I can provide an array of recipe options to you, Dear Reader. Yes, that’s right; I took one for the team!
To me, there was just something extremely unappealing about these brightly coloured cherries floating in a sticky, sugary syrup. I blame much of that point of view on both my mom and dad. Back in my early teen years, they both worked at a large industrial food plant which produced glace cherries, along with a million types of vinegars and pie fillings. When they came home from work, the stench would follow. Imagine being trapped in a factory with millions of gallons of vinegars being boiled all day long. The smell was disturbing to say the least.
My mom would bring home large buckets of pie fillings, and of course, red and green glace cherries. I’m not sure what she did with them all, but she kept bringing them home.
And my dad, well, he worked in the vinegar part of the plant. So, yes, you guess it; he brought home vinegars. I remember the glass bottles of vinegar looked like wine. They were never used, or even opened for that matter, but he brought them home anyway.
I wish I was a foodie way back then. I could have put those cherries and vinegars to good use. I’m pretty sure I would have let the pre-made pie fillings fall by the wayside though. They were never, and are not, something I purchase often (with the exception of pumpkin!)
Now, shortbread, however, is one of my favourite Christmas treats. I tend to make my own shortbread every holiday season, but during the summertime, I often crave it and resort to purchasing a package of Walkers Shortbread, which is available worldwide – it’s the best thing to homemade that you can possible get! #walkersshortbread
I read that shortbread originated in Scotland in the mid-1700s, and was first printed in recipe form by a Scotswoman named Mrs. McLintock. Who can argue with a recipe that old which is still being used today?
Glace Cherry Shortbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup red glace cherries, finely chopped
- 1 cup green glace cherries, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets by lining with a silicone baking mat or with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, use a hand-held mixer to beat together the butter, vanilla, and confectioner’s sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, incorporate until just blended together.
- Next, fold the cherries until well incorporated.
- Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to 1/4 of an inch thick.
- Use a cookie cutter – round or square – to cut the desired shape and size. I used a 1 1/2 inch square cookie cutter.
- Transfer the cut cookie to the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to continue the cooling process.
Notes
Nutrition
cynthia vite says
Are the festive glace cherry shortbread frosted?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
No, they are not frosted.
J. emery says
Is the 1 cup butter used salted or unsalted?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
You can use either one. If you use salted butter, don’t add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Tara says
Do you chop your glaced cherries in the food processor or by hand?
byronethomas@gmail.com says
I always chop them by hand, Tara. 🙂
Allison says
What ingredients are used in the glaze? Is the glaze applied while the cookies are cooling or room temperature?
KInga says
My batter/dough was really sticky. Could not use cookie cutter way to soft put in the fridge for 30 min. Will see what happens.
Mary Husak says
The cookies are so festive ,I will make these soon so I will be ready for Christmas