Cherry Shortbread Hearts Dipped in Chocolate

I am leaving in a few minutes for vacation.  While I am gone I have attempted to schedule two automatic posts on cupcakes.  This is my first time doing it this way, so I hope it works!  If not, I'll post them live when I'm back in a little over a week.  Please bear with me!  Now, onto the cookies....

I'll get right to it....these didn't turn out exactly as I had planned.  I've made this shortbread cookie before and it's heavenly.  This time I forgot to skim the recipe beforehand (have I mentioned it's so important to read the recipe before beginning!) so I rolled the dough too thin.  When that happens they  brown past the edges.  When that happens the don't taste great.  Trust me.  Not that they were AWFUL, just not what they could and should have been.  Here's the recipe, which, if you follow correctly, will produce wonderful, buttery shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate.  Promise!

Shortbread Cookies

Adapted slightly from Ina Garten

3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon maraschino cherry juice

1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

A few drops red food coloring (to desired hue)

6 to 7 ounces very good semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together butter and one cup of sugar until they are just combined.  Add the vanilla, cherry juice, cherries and food coloring..  In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt and add them to the butter/sugar mixture.  Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together.  Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a disk.  Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/2 inch thick and cut with chosen cutter.  Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar.  

Bake 20-25 minutes or until edges begin to brown slightly.  Allow to cool to room temperature.

When the cookies, place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Put 3 ounces of chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Stir with a wooden spoon.  Continue to head and stir in 30 second intervals until the chocolate is just melted.  Add the remaining chocolate and allow to sit at room temperature , stirring often, until it is completely smooth.  Stir vigorously until the chocolate is cooled and smooth and slightly cooled.  Stirring makes it glossier.

Drizzle each cookie half way with enough chocolate to coat it.

I also have a difficult time with achieving glossy chocolate.  Still working on that.  The chocolate was too thick for me to drizzle, so I dipped, but the line is uneven and trying to fix it made things worse.  I will definitely make these again and try to improve on it.  The cherry flavor was nice and I like the bits of cherry throughout the cookie.  I thought about skipping posting these cookies altogether, but I promised I'd show the good, bad, and the ugly.  These cookies are a combination of the three, I think!

If you try your own version and have success, let me know!

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