Sweet Hearts

Sweet Hearts are a shortbread cookie with nuts and chocolate.
This cut- out cookie's dough is easily made a day in advance.

1/2 cup of maraschino cherries, well-drained and chopped
1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 cup of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of finely chopped almonds
1/4 cup of semisweet chocolate pieces ( you can use chocolate chips here)
1/2 teaspoon of shortening

Dry the cherries gently using a paper towel. Place then in a small bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl stir together flour and sugar. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs or small peas. Stir in the chopped cherries. Knead well on a lightly floured board until all the ingredients are well combined and the
dough is smooth.

On the lightly floured board, roll out the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness. Using a 1 1/2 inch heart shaped cookie cutter ( dipped in flour before each cut), cut the dough into hearts. Place each cookie one inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cookies are set to the touch. Remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Evenly spread almonds on waxed paper. In a small saucepan or pot heat the chocolate and shortening on low heat just until melted, stirring occasionally. Using a pastry brush, brush the bottoms of the cookies with the chocolate. Press cookies with chocolate sides down into almonds. Place cookies with chocolate-almond sides up on a wire rack. Let stand until the chocolate is set.

Makes about 18 cookies