Favorite Ingredient Friday ~ Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies

Ok, so I can't take credit for this one. My friend emailed it to me, saying I *HAD* to try it, and she said a friend found it off a blog, reposted from another blog, reposted from another blog. So, never one to sucuumb to peer pressure, I made it too and put it on my blog.

Because I can't leave well enough alone, I did some fiddling about to add something different to them... IE, added chocolate. Because even the best is made better with chocolate.

So here you go, Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies

Strawberry Stems ~
1/4 cup water
4 drops green food color
50 or so slivered almonds, blanched

Strawberry Cookies ~
1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1.5 ounces strawberry flavored Jello
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Red colored sugar
Green colored sugar

Chocolate~
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add water and green coloring to a bowl, then add almonds. Allow to soak completely, stirring occasionally.

For the cookies, beat butter, sugar, gelatin, vanilla, strawberry extract, and salt in a large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in flour on low. Chill for 15-30 minutes to make dough easier to handle. Halfway through chilling process, preheat the oven to 375.

After chilling is finished, drain almonds and dry completely. Form dough into 1-inch diameter balls, tapering one end for the strawberry effect. Roll tapered end of the ball (the "strawberry") in the red sugar, and the wide end (the "leaf") in green sugar, and insert an almond sliver for the stem. Place on ungreased baking sheets and bake 11-12 minutes, only until set and very lightly browned. Cool on wire racks

Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar, cocoa, water, and extract. Stir until the consistency of melted chocolate. Dip cooled strawberries into the chocolate mixture, or using a fork, drip ribbons of chocolate over the cookie for a streaked effect.

Makes 30-40

Now, in my cookies, I added a little red dye to the cookies. Why? Because I'm apparently not a very good direction-follower and that's what I thought the recipe had us do. My bad. But not a huge disaster. Just a little redder than normal cookies.