Cherry Almond Cookies

You know that Rolo cookie that makes the rounds on Pinterest?  The one that is so good you have could eat the entire batch by yourself?  Well, I got to thinking, “There has got to be a way to to use the same idea as the Rolo cookie but with a different flavor.”  So my mom and I started brainstorming ingredients that we could use in the center of the cookie that had a similar consistency to Rolo’s.  And since we could both pretty much eat slices of almond paste like other people eat slices of cheese we decided we had to go with it.  And why not throw in some cherry preserves too since cherry and almond is a common flavor pairing.  The result?

The Rolo cookie’s prep school cousin, classy cousin, tea at Harrods cousin, and pretty much just totally amazing cousin.  It’s different than the Rolo cookie, even though it uses the same concept,–but just as fantastic and just as tempting to eat a whole plate of them by yourself.  And the ultimate stamp of approval?  My husband, who doesn’t have a sweet tooth to speak of, thought they were fantastic.

Here’s what you need for the cookie:

• One box of classic white cake mix
• Two eggs
• 1/3 cup of oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of almond extract
• A small brick of almond paste (you won’t use the whole thing and you could definitely use canned almond paste as well)
• Cherry preserves (or cherry jelly….it won’t matter)

Mix all of the ingredients together.  And if you want to add more almond extract to the dough for more flavor…by all means.

Cut your almond paste into little pieces and roll into one inch balls.

Make a well in a tablespoon sized ball of dough.  I just pressed a divot into mine with my thumb.

Spoon in about a teaspoon of cherry preserves.

Lay one of your almond paste balls on top of the preserves.

Close the dough around the filling and lay your cookies on a greased cookie sheet about two inches apart.

Bake at 350 degrees for about eleven minutes. You want these cookies to be soft, and since all ovens vary in baking speeds and accuracy, make sure eleven minutes will really work for you.  You might need to go up or down a minute or two to get the perfect texture.

Once they come out of the oven let them cool on a drying rack and marvel at how beautiful all that cherry is peeking through the cookie.

How awesome does that look?

Here’s what you need for the glaze:

And this step is totally optional–the cookies are amazing without the glaze, heavenly with it. Another FYI–this glaze is perfect for any cookie and tastes way better than Royal Icing.  We use it for sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies in my family and it makes your cookies second-to-none. Just make it thicker for cookie decorating and use whatever color food coloring you like to make it beautiful.

• A cup of confectioner’s sugar
• About a tablespoon of milk (I show more here….because you can always adjust the amount of milk based on how thick or thin you want the icing)
• Almond extract
• Slivered almonds

I made my glaze a little runny because I wanted it to just add a hint of flavor to the cookies.

A quick splash of almond extract to taste.

Drizzle the icing on the cookies–the messier the better.

Sprinkle with the slivered almonds, let them dry, and then…

Try to eat just one.  Oh my word. I’m going to eat one right now.