Cherry Stripper Cookies

Here we go, the first full work week of the year.  And you know what?  We don't have a holiday for five whole months!  I really think that there needs to be an extra holiday thrown in the calendar around the middle of March.  Looking at our corporate calendar and seeing that the next long weekend isn't until Memorial day makes me think about last year at this time.

I'm not terribly sad about not having a long weekend because I'm still in a very happy place.  Last year at this time I was still a postdoctoral associate, working long, long hours in my lab at Yale.  It was a very stressful time of year because we were right in the midst of job hunting season and I was toiling away, trying to finish my total synthesis.  The four members of my lab would inevitably be at their hoods seven days a week, putting in 70 hours a week, easilly.  According to most professors - Evenings and weekends aren't holidays.  (Holidays generally weren't holidays either, I remember spending a few Easter Sundays in lab)

A lot has changed in 365 days.  These days I get two whole days off, every week!  Those of you who have been working like a normal person for a while might see my glee as strange, but a five day work week makes me so happy!  And do you know what I do with those weekends? 

 Whatever I want!  Go sky diving!  Build a house!  Train seeing eye puppies!  Spend hours at Starbucks thinking deep thoughts!  Make ever more creative yoga poses and name them after my friends!  Paint exact copies of the Mona Lisa!  Write profound statements in library books!

But mostly, I make cookies...

Cherry Strippers

Adapted from Cooking Light Cookbook

One Year Ago: Chicken and Pineapple Chutney

1/3 cup sugar
5 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cherry preserves
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cream together sugar and butter.  Add vanilla extract and egg white, scraping edges of the bowl to ensure complete mixing.  Add flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix to combine.

Divide dough in half and roll each section into a 12-inch long rope.  Create a trough in each rope, about 1/2-inch deep.  Add cherry preserves to fill in the trough. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and move to a cutting board.

Combine powdered sugar, lemon juice and alond extract.  Drizzle over the still warm cookies.  Using a sharp knife, cut each big cookie into 1-inch pieces.  Place cut cookies on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature.  Eat COOKIES!