Chocolate Dalmations

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees fahrenheitHeat 1 inch of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over medium heat.

With the heat on, place the white chocolate in the top half of the doubleboiler. Use a rubber spatula to stir the chocolate until completley meltedand smooth, about 2 min. Transfer the melted chocolate to a 1 quart bowl andset aside until needed.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with apaddle, beat on med. for 4 min. until soft. Use a rubber spatula to scapedown the sides of the bowl, then beat on high for 4 more minutes until light( but not fluffy). Add the vanilla extract and the melted white chocolate.

Beat on med. for 1 min. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add the chocolate mini-

morsels and mix on low for 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer anduse a rubber spatula to finish mixing the ingredients until thoroughlycombined.

Portion the dough into 48 slightly heaping Tbs. size pieces ( appoximately 1ounce per piece) onto a large piece of wax paper. Gently roll each portionin the palms of your hands to form a ball.

Divide the dough bals onto 4 nonstick baking sheets, 12 evenly spaced ballsper sheet. Place the baking sheets on the top and center racks of thepreheated oven and bake for 14 to 16 min, rotating the sheets from top tocenter halfway through baking time. Remove the cookies from the oven andcool to room temp on the baking sheets, about 20 min. Store the cooledcookies in a tightly sealedplastic container.