Inspiration: I adore making things — whether it’s baked goods, crocheting scarves, sewing pillowcases, or quilting. But weirdly enough, other than photographing the results (so I can figure out how to do it better next time), I rarely keep the fruits of my labor.

It’s the making process I enjoy.

Hence how I can bake cookies, I can’t actually eat.

The true inspiration for this week’s baking adventure comes courtesy of those brightly colored tubs of candied cherries, citrus rinds, and pineapple bits in the produce section. I’ve seen them displayed every holiday for decades and always wondered how they tasted.

So I decided this was the year I was going to find out!

Scouring the internet, I found this recipe for Cherry Christmas Cookies. As it’s a derivation of a sliced refrigerator cookie I’ve been baking for my mom for years, so I decided to give it a go.

Now, let us address the flies in the batter: the candied cherries and pecans.

One makes me itchy (due to sulfites, which keep those little orbs brightly colored for an eternity), and the nut will land me in the hospital in a pair of seconds. So I subbed the pecans for pumpkin seeds — since they have similar-ish texture. And due to cherries being out-of-season, I failed to find fresh ones I could candy myself. So I stuck with the sulfite-ladened ones since their presence in my kitchen won’t kill me. Then followed the recipe mostly to the letter. Adding the zest of two lemons to the dough since it pairs well with cherries.

The results? Meh.

They were perfectly fine cookies, but not spectacular ones. (I tried a small piece for scientific purposes.) The problem is the candied cherries don’t have a ton of flavor on their own, so they dull the overall taste of the cookie — that’s our working theory.

Next time, to punch up the flavor, I’m going to toast the pumpkin seeds, brown the butter, and use a vanilla bean rather than an extract. If I’m feeling really fearless, I’ll add 1 to 2 tsps of Kirsch (a cherry brandy) as well since it will help cut the sweetness of the rest of the cookie whilst adding extra depth of flavor….Hopefully.

Wish me luck!

Christie: Just as Mr. Satterthwaite looks back on the golden glow of his one love affair — I believe these cookies, in their original form, benefit from the halo of nostalgia. Something you savor eating because of the memories they conjure in your mind’s eye rather than the flavor itself.