In time for Valentines Day... Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

We were having some company over and I decided to make up my own version of Thumbprint Cookies.  I love anything cherry flavored.  Those decadent marachino cherries lure me to eat them right out of a jar!  I started thinking about Valentines Day and cherries and decided to make a version of cookie that reminds me of my favorite Christmas candy... chocolate covered cherries!

drizzled with chocolate

In the oven baking





Two of the ingredients



The Recipe:

1 tube of ready-made sugar cookie dough

Cherry preserves (I used Smuckers)

Milk Chocolate Chips

Amaretto



I pinched off pieces of the sugar cookie dough, rolled them in a ball and put them on a cookie sheet.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  After I had all the cookies in rolled balls, I took my thumb and made a shallow indention.  In a bowl, I mixed up about a 1/2 cup of cherry preserves and poured in about 2 teaspoons of chilled Amaretto.  Mix up and then put a dollop in the indention of each cookie.  Bake for the recommended time on the sugar cookie package.  When the cookies come out, allow to cool while you mix about 1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips in a bowl and microwave until melted.  Spoon into a ziplock bag and seal, cut the corner of the bag just a little and squeeze the warm chocolatey goodness over the cookies.  Mmmm... were they good!! 

A nice variation of this is to use strawberry jam and make a confectioners sugar glaze to go over the top.  Or... use apple pie filling and mix a little cinnamon and sugar with each of cookie balls and glaze with confectioners sugar. 



But...for Valentines Day...it had to be cherries....