Cherry shortbread cookies are delicious, but adding flaked coconut and almond extract is an incredible twist you can’t live without. With soft and tender cherry cookies and that little sprinkling of sliced almonds and sugar on top you’ll find that these cookies quickly make their way into your top favorites list.
I’m a sucker for a good shortbread cookie. I’m guessing it’s all the butter- you can’t help but enjoy the delicate crispness of these little treats! The almond and cherries produce a nice flavor that compliments the subtle coconut. They’re delicious.
What Are Cherry Almond Coconut Shortbread Cookies?
It’s not a cookie you’ll see on the grocery store shelves in premade packages, but it is one you can easily make in your own kitchen. With a jar of maraschino cherries, a little almond extract, and some fresh flaked coconut you can easily make these slice and bake cookies with a little effort and patience.
Cherry Almond Coconut Shortbread Cookies Ingredients
Recipe adapted from Mad Tad MD
-Butter: While it’s better with unsalted butter, you can use softened salted butter and simply omit or reduce the requested salt in the recipe so that they don’t turn out too salty.
-Sugar: Using half a cup of granulated sugar in the cookie dough and a little bit of turbinado sugar for the topping, we get a sweet (but not too sweet) cookie that tastes great!
-Maraschino cherries: Jarred maraschino cherries are found in the grocery store and are pretty sweet, chop a few up and place them in the dough for cherry chunks and bursts of flavor in every cookie.
-Almond extract: Using almond extract we can get a new layer of depth ad flavor in the cookies that we wouldn’t get with vanilla. That said, you can use vanilla and still get tasty cookies!
-Cherry extract: This is an optional ingredient, but it really does make the cherry flavor more pronounced in the dough.
-Flour: The base of the cookie dough is all-purpose flour.
-Baking powder: This is the leavening agent to make the cookies puff up a little during baking so that they’re delicious and pillowy.
-Salt: Salt helps to make the other flavors taste better in recipes, if you’re using salted butter you may wish to omit this additional bit of salt.
-Coconut: We want to use sweetened flaked coconut to help add texture and sweetness to these cookies.
-Sliced almonds: Using sliced almonds on top of the sliced cookies adds a nice appearance and crunch.
How to Make Cherry Almond Coconut Shortbread Cookies
Cream your butter and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add in the extracts and mix again.
Add in the flour, baking powder, and the salt.
Beat the mix together until it forms a dough.
Stir in the cherries and the coconut until well distributed.
Divide the dough in half and lay out some wax paper. Form each ball of dough into an 8 inch log.
Wrap the dough logs in wax paper and chill the dough for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Preheat your oven to 300F degrees.
Cut the dough logs into ¼ inch thick slices with a sharp knife.
Arrange the cookie slices on parchment lined baking sheets at least 2 inches apart.
Top the cookies with turbinado sugar and one of two almond slices.
Bake the cookies on the top rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until they are a pale golden color.
Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp cherry extract {optional but super yummy!}
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
- sliced almonds and turbinado sugar, for topping
Instructions
- In a bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in extracts.
- Add flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until it forms a dough. Stir in cherries and coconut.
- Divide the dough in half. On a sheet of wax paper, form each half into an 8-inch log. Chill the logs, wrapped in the wax paper, for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Heat the oven to 300°F.
- Cut the logs into ¼-inch-thick slices with a sharp knife.
- Arrange the slices 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Top with one or two almond slices and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar.
- Bake the cookies on the top rack of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are pale golden.
- Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Can cherry almond shortbread cookies be made in advance?
You can make the cookie dough for this recipe up to a week in advance! Perfect for allowing the cookie flavors to truly develop and for getting to enjoy baked cookies on a busy day by planning ahead.
Can I freeze cherry shortbread cookies?
Yes, these cookies can be frozen in dough form by wrapping the dough logs well and sticking in the freezer for up to 3 months. The cookie can also be frozen after they bake and are finished cooling.
Cherry shortbread cookies are a delicious and low maintenance treat that tastes great. You’re going to love this cherry, coconut, almond flavored cookie!
Kurinji says
cookies looks delicious…