The Best Chocolate Cherry Cookies

The Best Chocolate Cherry Cookies are a hit at parties and potlucks. Their bright color combined with the chocolate topping makes them a hit for everyone.

The trick to these cookies is the bright candied maraschino cherries inside. If you are not familiar with maraschino cherries by name, they are the cherries that come on top of your ice cream, dessert, or specialty drink. You can find them in the grocery store in the ice cream aisle. It’s better to buy some that do not have stems, but if the stemmed cherries are your only option, you will just need to remove the stems before chopping the cherries.

Because we are going for maximum flavor, we are going to use both the cherries and the juice in this recipe. You may have some juice left over — it’s amazing inside a chocolate shake or as a fun kid’s drink with seltzer water or sprite.

Any gluten-free one-to-one flour should work well in these cookies. I personally use Namaste flour in most of my cookie recipes because it’s inexpensive and I can get it in bulk at Costco. Measure for Measure by King Arthur Flour also works well and is found both online and in most major grocery store chains like Kroger.

Just a note — if you can still eat gluten, just use regular all-purpose flour instead of the gluten one-to-one flour in the recipe.

Making the Cookies

The Best Chocolate Cherry Cookies come together very quickly. These cookies follow the standard format of creaming the sugar and butter together first until light and fluffy. Starting with butter slightly colder than room temperature will actually give you a better lift on your cookies in the finished product.

After the butter and sugar are light and fluffy it’s time to add eggs, vanilla, and maraschino cherry juice. The juice will give the cookies a delightful pink hue. Not too much, just enough to make them stand out on a dessert buffet.

As you mix the final wet ingredients together, make sure to mix them for a good 3-4 minutes or until slightly lighter in color and light and fluffy in texture.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Next, mix until combined and scrape down the bowl.

Lastly, the cherries should be chopped into quarters and added last to the mixer or bowl. The recipe says one cup, but this is another ingredient like chocolate that you just need to measure with your heart. If you feel like adding a little more, go right ahead.

Mix until just combined. Too much mixing will chop the cherries into tiny pieces.

Scoop the cookies about tablespoon size onto a lined cookie sheet. I usually fit about 12 per pan.

Bake them at 350 for 9 to 10 minutes. Don’t overbake. We want these to be nice and soft cookies.

After the cookies have cooled for about 10 minutes, it’s safe to start working on the chocolate drizzle.

First, microwave the chocolate chips until smooth. Second, use a fork or spoon to drizzle the chocolate on top of each cookie. Go with your heart on the amount of chocolate. If you feel like they need a little more, so be it. Serve after the chocolate has cooled.

If you are looking for additional dessert options, Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Treats, Chocolate Mint Cookies, Amazing White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies, Decadent Brownies, or The Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chips Cookies are great choices too.

This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.