My Cherry Jingle Bells

In 2018, I released a video on YouTube called My Holiday Traditions. In it, I talked about a cookie I developed as a kid called Cherry Jingle Bells and I mentioned the recipe would be linked in the description. Well, the problem was, I wasn’t sure at the time how to share it as a young 20-year-old. Now that I’m a mature 25-year-old, I’ve decided to make a blog post with the recipe.

History

My mom and I baked a lot throughout my childhood, especially at Christmas time. We’ve made sugar cookies, gingerbread, peanut butter blossoms, peppermint pinwheels, you name it. When I was 9 years old, I wanted to make a sandwich cookie. I told my mom about trying a cinnamon, almond cookie with strawberry filling. My mom suggested cherry would complement the flavors better and she was right. We made these cookies for the first time in 2007 for our holiday cookie exchange party at our new house, and they were a hit. We’ve made them every year since.
Note, this recipe is a tweaked version of the sugar cookie recipe from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

INgredients

Cookies

• 2/3 cups butter, softened
• 2/3 cups shortening
• 4 cups all-purpose flower
• 2 eggs
• 1½ cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Dash of salt

Filling

• 2 jars Desert Cherries (We use some from Trader Joe’s)
• 1 bag frozen dark, sweet cherries

Simple Icing (Based on Better Homes and Gardens)

• 1 cup sifted powdered sugar.​
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1 Tbsp milk

Instructions

cookies

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 60 seconds. Add about half of the flour, the egg, sugar, milk, baking powder, almond extract, cinnamon, and salt. Beat till thoroughly combined. Beat in the remaining flour. Divide the dough in half. Cover; chill for 3 hours.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time 1/8-inch thick. Cut into bells with a bell-shaped cookie cutter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or till the edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned. Cool cookies on a rack.
5. After cookies have cooled, spread 1 tsp cherry filling (recipe below) on one cookie and top with another, making a sandwich cookie.

Filling

1. Drain cherries and reserve the syrup.
2. Put cherries (both candied and frozen) in food processor and pulse until finely chopped (4 – 5 times)
3. Bring syrup to a boil and add cherry puree. Bring to boil again and reduce heat and simmer lightly for 10 -13 minutes. Once mixture is thick like jam, turn off heat & cool completely.
4. If mixture doesn’t thicken, mix 1 Tbsp cornstarch with 1 Tbsp water, and slowly add to cherries, stirring constantly and bring to a boil again and cook for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and cool completely. 

Simple Icing (Based on Better Homes and Gardens)

1. Mix powdered sugar, almond extract, and milk.​
2. Add additional milk 1 tsp at a time until icing is thin enough to spread.

Decorating

​After all the cookies are filled, get your icing and an offset spatula to frost the cookies. You can use the simple icing recipe above or you can use a simple royal icing recipe of your choosing. Nothing too heavy that overpowers the cookie. You want to add a small amount of icing to cover in a thin layer over the top of the cookie.

My favorite way to decorate these cookies is using silver/gold/yellow sprinkles for the main bell, and a silver or gold candy for the clapper, and holly berry candies (white or red berries) on the top.

Another fun method to use is putting royal icing in a pipe bag and making lacy designs on the cookies (this won’t work with the icing above, use royal icing for this) At the end of the day, you can make your cookies look how you want. Get creative and have fun.

That’s all there is to it. I hope you all enjoy these cookies; they are a favorite in my family. If you do make them, please show me by tagging me in photos on Instagram @littleanimatedmecomics or @littlemecomix on twitter. Thanks for reading, Happy Holidays and Have an ANIMATEDLY Happy New Year!!!