Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

I was looking for something different to make for Thanksgiving and ran across these Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes.  While they look scrumptious, I’m not a huge chocolate fan and thought it would be too much for me. I also thought of the peanut butter kiss cookies that Mom makes so well, you know the ones that look like this:

I thought maybe I could combine the two ideas into something I call Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies.

Now let me warn you, they didn’t turn out as pretty as I had intended, but they taste delicious and you won’t be able to eat just one!

The ingredients that you’ll need are as follows:

Cookie Batter
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Topping
2 jars of maraschino cherries, drained
1 tablespoon of cherry juice
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
½ cup sweetened condensed milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Shape into 1-inch balls and drop onto ungreased baking sheets. Press down onto center of the dough with your thumb.

Place a cherry into the center indention of each cookie.

In a small saucepan, combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. Heat over low until chocolate is melted. Stir in 1 tablespoon cherry juice.

Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the topping over each cherry, spreading to cover the cherry. If the frosting seems too thick add a little more cherry juice.

Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.