Chocolate Cherry Fudge Cookies
While this may look like a Christmas recipe, I think it is one that can be made year-round! Seriously, how can you say no to a chocolate and cherry combo?
This recipe is from my sister. She probably loves to bake just as much as I do. I found that these cookies come together really quickly, and they would be a great recipe to have kids help with. The kids gobbled them up, especially the leftover cherries. My one warning with these cookies, though, is to let them cool completely. The cherry on the inside becomes hot as lava. Don’t ask how I know.
If you aren’t a fan of maraschino cherries, but love fresh cherries, you can most definitely substitute. Just make sure to pit the cherries first. No one likes biting into a hard seed.
Chocolate Cherry Fudge Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla
- 48 maraschino cherries about one 10-ounce jar, undrained
For the Fudge Frosting
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter medium-to-high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press down center of each ball with your thumb. Drain cherries, reserving juice. Place a cherry in the indent made by your thumb.
- For frosting, in a microwave safe bowl combine chocolate pieces and the sweetened condensed milk. Heat until chocolate melts. Stir in 4 teaspoons of the reserved cherry juice.
- Place fudge frosting in a sandwich ziploc bag, and snip the end off. Squeeze about 1 tsp. frosting over each cherry, spreading to cover cherry. Bake in preheated oven about 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to wire racks, cool.