When I was a kid, I used to go shopping with my mother and at the checkout line she would often buy us a box of chocolate-covered cherries. By the time we got home we had usually finished off at least the top layer, if not the whole box. I am pretty sure my love for all things cherry began there, and has just increased as I’ve grown older—perhaps you saw my post for Cherry Pie Chimichangas a couple weeks ago.
These cookies are the perfect embodiment of a chocolate-covered cherry. The frosting drizzled on top tastes exactly like that deliciously sweet creamy filling. The cookie itself has a wonderfully chewy, almost brownie-like consistency—it’s the perfect base. These cookies make great gifts any time of the year. They are rich and perfectly decadent.
(This recipe was originally published here on 10/27/2015)
Ingredients
- butter - 1/2 cup, room temperature
- sugar - 3/4 cup
- brown sugar - 1/4 cup
- egg - 1 large
- vanilla - 1 tsp
- flour - 1 1/2 cups
- cocoa powder - 1/2 cup, unsweetened
- salt - 1/4 tsp
- baking powder - 1/4 tsp
- baking soda - 1/4 tsp
- maraschino cherries - 1 12 oz jar
- bittersweet chocolate chips - 1 cup
- sweetened condensed milk - 1/2 cup
how to
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
-
Beat the butter and sugars together in a large bowl, then add the egg and beat well--then beat in the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add this all at once to the wet ingredients and mix together well.
- Use your hands to roll the dough (it might be crumbly, just press it together in your hands) into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball, and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press gently down in the center of each ball with your thumb.
- Drain the cherries (reserving the juice) and place one cherry in the indention of each cookie.
- Put the chocolate chips, condensed milk and salt in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until melted and mixed together. Stir in about 2 tbsp of the reserved cherry juice to thin the icing a bit--you can add more if it's too thick.
- Drizzle some frosting on each cookie, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until almost firm. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Should the topping really go on before cooking? Mine looked exactly like the photo before I put them in the oven but when cooked the topping just melted and went everywhere, so when they came out of the oven they looked a mess and nothing at all like the photo.
Hi Andrea. I put the topping on before I baked them, and it hardened in place in the oven, it didn’t melt. I’m not sure what could have gone wrong . . . I’m sorry they didn’t look great though. 🙁