“Brazil Nut Cherry Shortbread”

Welcome back to Cookie Week 2021. Recipe number two is crunchy, buttery, not too sweet, chock full of brazil nuts, chopped dried cherries and white chocolate chips. Can you think of any better combination? I can’t, so grab your ingredients and let’s bake Brazil Nut Cherry Shortbread. Shortbread is fun to bake and takes very little effort because you can cut them any way you like and add in all your favorite flavor combos. Sounds like a winner, right?

Brazil Nut Cherry Shortbread

Brazil nuts remind me of macadamia nuts. Buttery flavor with big crunch factors. Never had brazil nuts? I purchased mine from Nuts.com and they are shelled. Thank goodness because shelling them can be a chore. I chop the nuts in a Ziploc with my meat pounder but a food processor can be used if it suits you.

Brazil Nut Cherry Shortbread

Next are the dried cherries which are like dried cranberries. You could substitute cranberries in this recipe if desired. Apricots work well in this recipe, too. As a matter of fact almost any dried fruit works here depending what kinds are available in your area. This is a good recipe to experiment with. Go ahead and explore the possibilities.

Brazil Nut Cherry Shortbread

Last but not least is the type of butter I use. Kerrygold Irish butter is creamy and tastes fantastic especially on bread, rolls, biscuits and muffins. Whatever you smear butter on, grab Kerrygold. European butter has a higher fat content which works well when baking. Kerrygold comes in both salted and unsalted. I bake mainly with unsalted but salted can be substituted. Just remember to decrease or omit salt in your recipe. Hope you enjoy recipe number two of Cookie Week 2021 and stay tuned for the next cookie. Happy Baking!

Brazil Nut Cherry Shortbread

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 t. kosher salt

2 cups chilled Kerrygold unsalted butter, grated

1 cup chopped Brazil nuts

1 cup Ghirardelli white chocolate chips

1 cup chopped dried cherries

Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 13×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add in grated butter and coat butter with flour using a fork. Using your hands, massage butter into flour until a pea-size mixture forms and holds together when squeezed in your hand.

Add nuts, white chocolate chips, and cherries, stirring until just combined. Press dough evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with Turbinado sugar as desired.

Bake for 60 – 65 minutes or until top is golden brown. Allow shortbread to cool in pan for at least 2 hours before cutting as desired.

Cover and store in airtight container in refrigerator up to 5 days or 3 months in freezer.

Makes 32 bars.