Irresistible Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies with Velvety Fudge Glaze
Prepare to fall in love with these Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies! This divine recipe brings together the classic, irresistible combination of rich chocolate and vibrant cherry flavors in every bite. Imagine a soft, chewy chocolate cookie, featuring a sweet maraschino cherry baked right into its heart, and then crowned with a luscious, chunky fudge frosting that takes only minutes to prepare. These cookies are not just a dessert; they’re an experience, a perfect blend of decadence and delightful fruitiness that will captivate your taste buds.
These exquisite chocolate covered cherry cookies are crafted to be wonderfully soft and wonderfully chewy, each one holding a juicy maraschino cherry in its tender center. The experience culminates with a sweet, glossy chocolate fudge topping that makes these treats an absolute dream come true for any chocolate enthusiast. They’re a celebration of flavor and texture, promising a truly memorable homemade cookie experience.
Why You’ll Adore Our Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies
There’s something truly magical about the pairing of chocolate and cherries, and this recipe perfectly captures that harmonious blend. These cookies are not just any cookies; they’re thick, moist, and fudgy, almost resembling bite-sized brownies. And the star of the show? That incredible fudge topping! It’s unbelievably decadent, yet astonishingly simple to whip up with just three basic ingredients. We especially love the hint of almond extract in the frosting, which beautifully amplifies the natural cherry flavor within the cookie itself. Best of all, most of the ingredients required are likely already staples in your pantry, making these amazing cherry chocolate cookies incredibly easy to prepare. They also make a stunning and attractive addition to any dessert table, guaranteed to impress your guests and have them asking for the recipe!
The Simple Joys of Baking These Cookies
- Effortlessly Quick: From mixing bowl to oven, these cookies are prepared in just a few minutes and bake to perfection in about 10 minutes, making them ideal for spontaneous baking sessions.
- Pantry-Friendly Ingredients: You won’t need to hunt for exotic components; this recipe relies on common baking essentials found in almost every kitchen.
- A Cherry on Top Delight: The result is a delightfully rich, chocolatey cookie, each one featuring a literal burst of cherry flavor, perfectly complementing the cocoa base.
If the irresistible combination of chocolate and cherry holds a special place in your heart, we encourage you to also explore our Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies for another delightful variation!
Expert Tips for Crafting the Best Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Achieving bakery-quality cookies at home is easier than you think with a few simple tricks. Follow these tips to ensure your Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies turn out perfect every single time:
- Preheat Your Oven Faithfully: Always start by preheating your oven to the specified temperature. This ensures consistent heat from the moment your cookies enter, promoting even baking and preventing them from spreading too much or baking unevenly. A properly preheated oven is the foundation for perfectly structured cookies.
- Embrace the Cookie Scoop: For professional-looking, uniformly sized cookies, a cookie scoop is your best friend. It not only makes portioning the dough incredibly fast and mess-free but also guarantees that all your cookies will bake at the same rate, resulting in a consistent texture and appearance across the entire batch.
- Don’t Skip Parchment Paper or Silicone Mats: Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silicone baking mat. This simple step is a game-changer! It prevents your cookies from sticking to the pan, ensures even heat distribution, and makes transferring the warm cookies to a cooling rack incredibly easy without any breakage or scraping. They’ll simply slide right off, maintaining their beautiful shape.
- Resist Overbaking: This is crucial for chewy cookies! When you remove your cookies from the oven, they should still look slightly underbaked in the center. Don’t worry, they will continue to set and bake on the hot cookie sheet for a few more minutes, achieving that perfect soft and fudgy texture. Overbaking leads to dry, crumbly cookies, so trust the process and pull them out when they still seem just a little soft.
Gather Your Ingredients for Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Creating these delightful cookies starts with a selection of high-quality ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to assemble:
For the Rich Chocolate Cookie Base:
- All-Purpose Flour: You’ll need 3 ½ cups of flour, which forms the essential structure and body of our wonderfully thick and chewy cookie dough. It provides the perfect foundation for the rich chocolate flavor.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: ¾ cup of cocoa powder is key to infusing these treats with their deep, irresistible chocolate flavor, giving them that beautiful dark color and intense taste.
- Baking Powder: Adding ½ teaspoon of baking powder ensures that these cookies rise beautifully and puff up to a delightful height during baking, contributing to their soft texture.
- Baking Soda: You need ½ teaspoon of baking soda to react with other ingredients, creating a wonderfully soft, tender, and chewy texture that melts in your mouth.
- Salt: Just ¼ teaspoon of salt is vital for balancing the sweetness and enhancing all the complex flavors in this recipe, preventing the cookies from tasting overly sugary.
- Unsalted Butter: 1 ¼ cups of softened butter provides crucial moisture, richness, and tenderness to the dough. It’s the secret to a lovely, rich-tasting treat. Ensure it’s softened, not melted, for the best results.
- Granulated Sugar: Using 1 ¾ cups of granulated sugar delivers the perfect level of sweetness, contributing to the cookie’s structure and delightful chewiness.
- Large Eggs: Two large eggs act as a binder for the dough, adding structure, moisture, and helping to create that ideal cookie texture.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract is essential for enhancing the overall flavor profile, complementing both the chocolate and cherry notes beautifully.
- Maraschino Cherries: A 12-ounce jar of maraschino cherries, drained and cut in half, is the star fruity addition. These vibrant, sweet cherries are baked into the center of each cookie, offering a burst of flavor and a lovely visual appeal.
For the Decadent Fudge Topping:
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips forms the rich and gooey base of this yummy goodness, providing intense chocolate flavor.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: A 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk is what gives the frosting its perfect, luscious consistency and adds an extra layer of sweetness and creaminess.
- Almond Extract: Adding ¼ teaspoon of almond extract provides a wonderfully complementary flavor that pairs exceptionally well with both the chocolate and cherry, elevating the overall taste of the cookie.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Make Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Follow these detailed instructions to create your own batch of these incredible cookies:
Preparation is Key:
- Preheat Your Oven: Begin by preheating your oven to 350°F (175°C). This ensures the oven is at the correct temperature when your cookies are ready to bake, promoting even cooking.
- Prepare Baking Sheets: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray it with a non-stick cooking spray. Set this aside, ready for your cookie dough.
- Prep the Cherries: Open your jar of maraschino cherries, drain them thoroughly, and then cut each cherry in half. These will be placed into the center of each cookie. Set them aside until needed.
Crafting the Cookie Dough:
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Ensure these dry ingredients are well combined for even distribution in the dough.
- Cream Wet Ingredients: In a separate, smaller bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the softened butter and granulated sugar until the mixture becomes light, creamy, and fluffy. This step incorporates air, contributing to the cookies’ tender texture.
- Add Eggs and Vanilla: Introduce the eggs and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat well until everything is thoroughly combined, ensuring the liquids are fully integrated.
- Combine Wet and Dry: Gradually add the wet butter mixture into the large bowl containing the dry flour mixture. Mix carefully until all the ingredients are just combined and no streaks of white flour are visible. Be careful not to overmix, as this can lead to tough cookies.
Assembly and Shaping:
- Form Cookie Balls: Begin shaping the cookie dough into uniform 1-inch balls. You can achieve consistent sizing by using a cookie scoop, or simply use a standard spoon and roll them by hand.
- Create Cherry Indentations: Once each dough ball is formed, gently press your thumb into the center to create a small, thumbprint-sized indentation. This will be the perfect spot for our cherry.
- Place Cherries and Arrange: Carefully place one half of a drained maraschino cherry into each indentation. Arrange the prepared cookie dough balls onto your lined baking sheet, leaving some space between each for spreading.
Baking to Perfection:
- Bake the Cookies: Place the baking sheet into your preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remember, they should still look slightly soft or underbaked in the center when you remove them.
- Cooling Process: Once baked, remove the cookie sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 2-3 minutes. This allows them to set further. Afterward, carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before applying the fudge frosting. It’s crucial they are completely cool to prevent the frosting from melting.
Whipping Up the Fudge Topping:
- Melt Chocolate Chips: In a medium-sized saucepan, melt your semi-sweet chocolate chips over very low heat. Stir continuously until the chocolate is completely melted and beautifully creamy, with no lumps.
- Add Condensed Milk and Almond Extract: Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the sweetened condensed milk and the almond extract.
- Thicken the Frosting: Continue stirring the mixture over low heat for about 3-4 minutes, allowing it to thicken into a smooth, lump-free fudge consistency.
- Frost the Cookies: Once your cookies are entirely cooled, use a spoon to generously frost the top of each cookie, ensuring the cherry in the center is covered with the rich fudge.
- Allow to Set and Serve: Let the frosted cookies sit for a few minutes to allow the fudge topping to slightly set. Then, they are ready to be served and enjoyed!
DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHERRY COOKIES
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Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups butter
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 12 oz jar maraschino cherries drained and cut in half
Fudge Topping:
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
Instructions
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In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
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In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
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Stir in the flour mixture and shape into 1-inch balls. Press a thumb-sized indentation into each ball and then place a cherry half into the center. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350. Cool.
Fudge Topping:
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Over low heat, melt chocolate chips and mix in the sweetened condensed milk and almond extract. Once combined, continue stirring over low heat for about 3-4 minutes until mixture is thickened. Using a spoon, frost each cookie, covering the cherry. Enjoy!
Storage and Freshness: How Long Do Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies Last?
Once baked and frosted, these delectable cookies will maintain their optimal freshness and flavor for approximately 3 to 5 days. To ensure they stay soft and delicious, it’s crucial to store them in an airtight container at room temperature. While they are perfectly fine at room temperature, if you’re enjoying them on a particularly warm day or simply prefer a chilled treat, feel free to store them in the refrigerator. Just be sure to bring them back to room temperature for about 15-20 minutes before serving to appreciate their full fudgy texture.
Mastering Butter Softening: The Key to Perfect Cookies
The consistency of your butter is paramount in cookie baking. It needs to be softened, but absolutely NOT melted! This is one of the most common pitfalls in achieving that ideal cookie texture. If your butter is too cold and hard, it won’t cream properly with the sugar, leading to a denser cookie. Conversely, if it’s too warm and melted, your cookies will likely spread too much and become greasy.
The ideal scenario is to plan ahead: simply leave your butter out on the kitchen counter for about 1 to 2 hours before you intend to bake. This gentle, gradual warming allows the butter to become pliable and soft without melting. However, if your cookie craving strikes unexpectedly (as it often does!), you can use your microwave. Place the butter in the microwave and use very short intervals, typically 5 seconds at a time. The key is to be extremely careful and pull it out just as it softens, ensuring it doesn’t melt. Gently press it with your finger; if it leaves an indentation, it’s perfect.
Personally, I find the defrost setting on my microwave to be fantastic for softening butter. While I don’t know the precise technical reasons, it seems to soften the butter more evenly and gradually, making it much less likely to accidentally melt. This slow, controlled softening is crucial for achieving that fluffy, creamy texture when beaten with sugar, which in turn leads to perfectly textured cookies.
Can You Freeze These Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies?
Absolutely! Freezing cookies is one of my favorite baking hacks, perfect for always having a homemade treat on hand. I have two preferred methods for freezing these delicious cookies:
The first method involves freezing the unbaked cookie dough balls. After you’ve scooped and shaped the dough into individual balls, arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet. You can place them relatively close together, but make sure they don’t touch. Once they are frozen solid – usually after a couple of hours – transfer them into a ziplock freezer bag or an airtight container. This way, you can grab and bake as many as you want whenever a craving strikes! When you’re ready to bake, you can either let them thaw on a cookie sheet while your oven preheats, or you can bake them directly from frozen. If baking from frozen, simply add an extra 2-4 minutes to the original bake time to ensure they cook through evenly.
The second method is to freeze the baked cookies. This is a trick my mother-in-law uses all the time. While they turn out remarkably well, they might be a tiny bit drier and more crumbly once thawed compared to freshly baked ones. The most important thing here is to ensure they are fully thawed before eating, as frozen cookies are quite hard to bite into! Fortunately, they typically only require about 20 minutes or so to thaw completely at room temperature. For best results, freeze them without the fudge topping and add the topping after thawing, or freeze them with the topping and let them thaw gently in the refrigerator overnight before bringing to room temperature.
Discover More Delicious Fruity Cookie Recipes:
If you love the burst of fruit in your cookies, you’ll be delighted by these other fantastic recipes from our collection:
- CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
- CHERRY BUTTER COOKIES
- CHERRY PIE COOKIES
- CHERRY JELLO COOKIES
- CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP NO BAKE COOKIES
- CHOCOLATE CHERRY COOKIES
- CHERRY ALMOND COOKIE BARS
- CHERRY CHOCOLATE CAKE
- Blackberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Raspberry Meltaway Cookies
- Blueberry Cream Cookies
- Cherry Cheesecake Cookies
- Snickerdoodle Apple Pie Cookie Cups
- Fresh Strawberries Cookie Cups
Beyond the joy of baking and sharing delicious recipes, our family loves creating lasting memories together. Last year, we embarked on a heartwarming new tradition: when each of our children turns 12, they get to choose a special trip to take with just Mom and Dad. It’s a wonderful way to connect and celebrate their individuality. Our second daughter, P, is nearing her 12th birthday in just a few weeks, and she is a huge Harry Potter fan! She finally got to experience the magic of Harry Potter World at Universal Studios in Orlando with us. Even with a bit of rain, we had an absolutely incredible and unforgettable time creating those precious family memories. We believe food and family experiences truly go hand in hand, creating the fabric of our lives.
These Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies truly are a sensational treat, offering a perfect harmony of flavors with the rich chocolate and sweet, tart cherry. The chunky fudge frosting adds an extra layer of deliciousness, making them an unparalleled dessert. We hope you enjoy baking and sharing these delightful cookies as much as we do!