These would be great for a cookie exchange or gift giving. This can make any where from 48-96 balls and honestly the ingredients are pretty basic, the most expensive thing is probably the walnuts. Pair this with the Christmas Blondies and you can use most of the same ingredients in each desert.
Ingredients:
1/4 Cup chopped maraschino cherries
1 Cup softened butter
1/2 Cup powdered sugar
1/2 Tsp almond extract
1/2 Tsp vanilla
2 Cups all purpose flour
3/4 Cup chopped toasted walnuts
Bowl of powdered sugar
Preheat your oven to 325. This is a good time to throw your walnuts in on a baking sheet to toast them if all you have is chopped walnuts. I also think actual roasting with some salt or seasonings on the walnuts would be an interesting twist. Make sure you refrigerate your cherries before chopping them, this makes it somewhat easier, but honestly the most important thing for this step is a sharp knife. Set chopped cherries to the side.
In a large mixing bowl (Kitchen Aide preferred) beat on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in the 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, almond extract, and vanilla. Beat in the flour slowly and finally the nuts and cherries. If you are using a hand held mixer, you may have to mix in the final flour, nuts and cherries with a spoon.
Shape the dough into balls, 1/2 or 1 inches each. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets or better yet silicon pads. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until bottom of cookies are golden brown in color. Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, elevated on wire racks. Then roll the warm cookies in powdered sugar. Place cookies on wire rack to completely cool.
If you choose to display your cookies on a plate or stand a final dusting of powdered sugar before serving would be ideal.
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