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| Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies (Far Right) |
During the holidays we always think about the blessings of family-those we have here and those that have passed. Around Christmas, I always think about Will’s Great Aunt Marie and her love of chocolate covered cherries. She loved those candies and would end up with multiple boxes at the end of the holiday! This year I decided to create a cookie that pays homage to Great Aunt Marie and her love of those chocolate covered cherries. I always feel any great Christmas cookie platter must contain a chocolate cookie and here’s one that everyone will enjoy! The cookie bakes into a mini chocolate cupcake covered in a chocolate frosting and dusted with powdered sugar, and inside a chewy cherry!
Ingredients
48 Maraschino Cherries (without stems)
2 TB Cherry Juice
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Salt
1 Stick of Land O’Lakes Butter-Unsalted
½ Cup Crisco (Butter flavor)
½ Cup White Sugar
½ Cup Brown Sugar
¾ Cup Ghirardelli Ground Chocolate
2 tsp Vanilla Paste or Extract
2 Eggs (at room temperature)
2 cups Ghirardelli 60% Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
½ cup Powdered Sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
Reserve 2 TB of cherry juice from cherries and drain remaining. Set aside. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
With a mixer, cream butter, Crisco and white and brown sugars. Once creamed, add ground chocolate and vanilla paste. Add one egg at a time and mix until combined. Gradually add flour mixture.
Wrap a spoonful of chocolate dough around a cherry to form a ball. Place in a greased or lined mini muffin tin. Repeat to fill tray and bake for 10 minutes. After cookies cool, heat chocolate chips and 2 TB of cherry juice. Dip tops of cookies into melted chocolate and sprinkle each with powdered sugar.
Makes 4 dozen
