Cookies with Cherries, White Chocolate and Pistachios

Uh-oh. My belly's achin' and it ain't even Christmas Eve yet. I got one more baked goodie for ya, and it's a goodie. These cookies with cherries, white chocolate chips and pistachios are the perfect balance of red, green and FAT--luscious, buttery, pre-New Year's Resolution fat. 

 

Here's a tip to save time during the holidays. Make several batches of one type of dough, then add variety with different mix-ins. Good combos are dried cranberries and chocolate chips, toffee chips and chopped pecans and basic sugar cookie dough with finely grated lemon or orange rind. 

 

For these cookies, I used my basic sugar cookie dough and mixed in the chips, cherries and nuts before refrigerating.

Sugar Cookies (originally printed in Bon Appetit)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

 1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

Beat the first four ingredients until well blended. Mix in egg and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, then mix in. Cover mixture and chill until firm, about 30 minutes or up to one day. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and butter two baking sheets. Roll into balls and bake until very lightly browned. 

Delish! 

What's on your baking list this week?