It’s February! I love February.
As a child, Valentine’s Day was one of my favorite holidays. I loved coming home from school with a paper bag full of little cards from my classmates. And the class parties always offered some kind of pink cookie that made the day feel even more special.
Here’s an easy recipe you can bake for your little Valentines. It’s a twist on the familiar Peanut Butter and Hershey’s Kisses cookies that we’ve all grown to love. This one is perfect for Valentine’s Day. It gets its pink color from cherry juice (no extra food coloring needed) and it tastes like the perfect shortbread cookie.
Cherry Kiss Cookies
- 1 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of maraschino cherry juice
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup maraschino cherries chopped (or all the cherries from a 10 oz. jar)
- 36 (approximately) kisses
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Beat the softened butter on medium until smooth and creamy.
Turn the mixer off and pour the powdered sugar into a strainer held over the bowl. Shake it until all the sugar is sifted into the bowl. Add the salt as well and turn the mixer to low until everything is mixed.
Add the cherry juice (2 tsps. from the jar) and the almond extract. Mix until combined.
Gradually add the flour, scraping down the sides as needed.
Turn the mixer to medium and add the chopped cherries.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place them on your prepared baking sheets. Press your thumb into the center of each ball of dough before baking.
Bake the cookies for 14 minutes or until set.
Press an unwrapped kiss into each cookie. Cool on a wire rack.
Notes: Use any flavor of Kisses. I used Cherry Cordial to amp up the cherry flavor.
PC: Ann Kirsten
Press the tops of the cookies into red sparkle sugar before baking or add mini M&M’s onto the tops instead of Kisses.
PC: Ann Kirsten
However you decide to personalize them, I think these will become a family favorite for your family too!
1 John 4:7-8 – Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
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Read more of Ann’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
