Maraschino Cherry Cookies are a perfect treat for Christmas cookie trays or for your sweetheart on Valentine's day. This recipe makes a chewy cherry chocolate chip cookie you'll love, and always feel extra special.
Ingredients
16ouncesmaraschino cherriescherries and juice both used in the recipe
1/2cupbutterunsalted, softened
1/2cupgranulated sugar
1/2cupbrown sugar
1largeegg
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1 1/2cupflour
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonsalt
3/4cupquick oats
3/4cupmini chocolate chipsdivided
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray lightly with cooking oil.
Drain the cherries into a small bowl but save the juice. Remove any cherry stems from the cherries and discard. Dry the cherries well with a paper towel, then chop the cherries into small pieces. See notes.
Add the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy.
Crack and add the egg and vanilla extract to the butter mixture. Mix well with an electric mixer until fully combined. Add 1 tablespoon of the cherry juice from the jar and mix into the dough. Discard the additional cherry juice.
Place the flour, baking soda, and salt in a second bowl. Blend the dry ingredients well, then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined and a thick dough forms.
Add the oats, 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips, and chopped maraschino cherries to the dough, folding them in until just evenly mixed.
Use a two tablespoon cookie scoop and roll the dough into balls.
Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet with at least 2 inches in between the cookies. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until they just begin to turn golden brown. Immediately add a few extra chocolate chips to the top of each cookie. from the remaining chocolate chips.
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes. Then remove the cookies from the pan and place on a wire rack or clean kitchen towel to finish cooling. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
The cherries do need to be dried very well once removing the juice. Please note that maraschino cherries do stain surfaces easily, so use a cutting board or surface that is ok to be stained. I prefer using a plastic cutting board for chopping the cherries as I can then wash it on hot in the dishwasher and it usually then removes most if not all of the color. Expect the cherries and juice will stain a wood cutting board.Quick oats or rolled oats can be used in this recipe. Quick oats or rolled oats are both rolled flat, cooked and designed to cook quickly. They will both produce a chewy cookie that is delicious.Steel-cut oats can not be used in this recipe. Steel cut oats are cut thicker and absorb much more moisture. Steel cut oats will cause the cookies to be too dry and possibly even crumbly.Instant oats can not be used in this recipe. Instant oats are rolled flat but are cut much smaller. Because they are designed to cook more quickly than quick oats, they will not absorb the same amount of moisture as quick oats or rolled oats. The texture on the cookies will not be as chewy and the cookie dough may be a little too wet.