12 Days of Cookies – Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
I let Hubby chose the last cookie for the 12 Days of Cookies. I gave him a list of 5 that came out of my Google Reader. He chose these chocolate covered cherry cookies. Like I have been doing recently, I made a 1/2 batch of these cookies. Hubby and I have started putting on holiday weight and it’s not even the holidays yet! This blog could be the death of me… I did only got 14 cookies out of my half batch. I used my cookie scoop to portion the dough, so apparently I made mine bigger than the original poster did.
These cookies are very good. I love the two textures of chocolate on them. And the surprise of a cherry in the middle is very good. I will definitely make these again sometime. Since they’re not overly holiday-ey they could be made any time of the year.
Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies – from A Good Appetite
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla
24 maraschino cherries
1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips – I used a mix of semisweet & bittersweet
1/4 c sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder & salt together, set aside.
In a mixer beat the butter until softened. Add the sugar & cream until like & fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour mixture & beat until well mixed.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls & place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheets. Use your thumb to make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
Drain the cherries reserving the juice. Remove the stems & cut the cherries in half. Place 1/2 of a cherry into the indentation in each cookie.
Put the chocolate chips & condensed milk in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until the chocolate is melted. Stir in 4 teaspoons of the cherry juice. Spoon 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of chocolate over the top of each cherry covering it completely. If the chocolate is too thick add a little more cherry juice.
Bake for 10 minutes & cool on a rack.
These cookies will freeze well. Individually freeze them on a cookie sheet. Once frozen place them in a box with wax paper between layers then back into the freezer.
My 12 Days of Cookies:Day 1: Lumberjacks
Day 2: Peppermint Sandies
Day 3: The great Sugar Cookie Debate
Day 4: Fudge
Day 5: Cranberry Orange Cookies
Day 6: Chocolate Chip Snowballs
Day 7: Peppermint Chocolate Cookies
Day 8: Snickerdoodles
Day 9: Candy Cane & Mint Kiss Cookies
Day 10: Chocolate Peppermint Meringue Cookies
Day 11: Butter Ball Cookies
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love freezing dough but somehow most ends up in my tummy unbaked when I do that 🙂
What a great gift! I’m thinking that would be wonderful for all sorts of occasions. Thanks for the idea!
These are adorable and I love that idea! Two questions, though: 1) Were these as good as the cookies from the other recipes? and 2) When you freeze them, do you bake right from frozen?
Great questions Carly – As far as comparing them to the other cookies. I enjoyed the chocolate M&M cookies the best, but they were REALLY chocolatey. The other non-chocolate M&M cookies were a bit more chewy and they had nuts in them, so they had a different vibe. This recipe was more of a classic M&M cookie for sure.
As far as baking from frozen, you can def just go straight from freezer to oven. Bake them ~13 minutes instead of ~11 and take them out when they look done.
these were delicious!
they look so cute all frozen up 🙂
I love the pink and red M&Ms. Thanks for the idea of freezing the cookie dough.
I was going to ask you the same thing as Carly, well the first question. These cookies are cute. Your freezing method reminded me that I have a bunch of sugar cookies still in the freezer! Do you know how long cookies can stay in the freezer?
I don’t know how long they will last in the freezer. I have a tendency to forget about things in my freezer… I’d guess a couple months? Anyone have ideas?
What festive little cookies 🙂 I love them! I also like the fact that you froze them. I bet they were delicious. Make sure to enter the All Through the Year Cheer event for Valentine’s Day 🙂
I think that sounds like a great way to spend valentine’s day. It can be intimidating the way it’s so hyped up. The cookies look very festive, love ’em!
We don’t do “valentine’s day” either since my MIL was born on the 14th and daughter’s birthday is the 15th – besides, its more important to say you love someone everyday, not just one day out of the year. Love the idea about freezing the cookie dough in preshaped form and giving that away. Wonderful idea!
I am looking for cookies that travel well for my soldier adopted through Soldier’s Angels and these look like a winner!!
Mmm, these were so tasty! Happy Valentine’s Day!
These are just too cute!! I love M&M cookies too!!
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Just had to add my two cents on the idea of giving cookie dough frozen and ready to be baked – genius! For some reason, I’ve never thought of that, even though I’ve given cookies frozen to people to be defrosted when they’re ready to eat. I love the dough idea!
YUM-these look absolutely delicious! I love the pink and red M&Ms!