Here's a Present for you

It's Christmas Eve. In the words of the bard, "The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallowed and so gracious is the time."

In the spirit of  wholesomeness, I'd like to offer you my recipe for chocolate cherry cookies, which are completely bewitching in any season. If you were here, I would give you a couple to try, but as you aren't, you must bake them yourself:

Kate's Cherry Chocolate Cookies
Prep time: 20 minutes to mix, ten minutes to bake
Makes 6 dozen

Ingredients:

3 sticks butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract, rum, or Curacao
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/8 tsp baking soda
3/8 tsp salt
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup dried cherries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla or other flavoring and beat until fluffy.
3. In another bowl, thoroughly whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add chips, nuts, and cherries, and combine with butter mixture until well blended.
4. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake ten minutes. Remove from oven, let set for a minute, and transfer to a cooling rack. 

Simple and tasty. Happy holidays.

--Kate Gallison