🍒 These Chocolate Cherry Thumbprints Cookies are an impressive but easy cookie for the holidays! Perfect for cookie trays.
Chocolate Cherry Thumbprints Cookies
These cookies are a little bit different from your traditional thumbprint cookies. But, they’re eye-catching and delicious – and perfect for the holiday season!
Every year, we participate in a cookie swap with a couple of neighbors or friends. I look forward to it every year. I’m the crazy person that starts thinking about what kind of cookie I want to share next year before the new year! I jot down tons of recipe ideas to try, and I have the whole year to find the perfect cookie!
I knew I wanted to make an impressive but easy cookie for my swap – and this time, I knew right away that I wanted to use a recipe I found in my Gramma’s recipes. These Chocolate Cherry Thumbprints were exactly what I was looking for!
My family loved these tasty little gems – and I hope my recipients thought they were delicious as well! 😊
Let me show you how they’re made …
Thumbprints Recipe
- semi-sweet chocolate chips
- quick or old-fashioned oats
- all-purpose flour
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- baking powder
- salt
- granulated sugar
- butter
- large eggs
- vanilla extract
- maraschino cherries
How to make Thumbprints Cookies
Time needed: 1 hour and 40 minutes
How to make Thumbprints Cookies
- Melt and cool chocolate.
Microwave 1 cup of the chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave in additional 10-20 second increments, stirring until smooth. Allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature.
- Combine dry ingredients.
In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
- Prepare dough.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the melted chocolate. Stir in the oat mixture. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven and shape cookies.
After the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2-inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Press deep centers into each cookie using your thumb. Place a cherry into each center.
- Bake and cool cookies.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. Let the cookies stand on cookie sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
- Drizzle melted chocolate over cookies.
Melt the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips as mentioned above. Drizzle the chocolate over the cooled cookies.
Thumbprints Cookies: FAQs
Cookies stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
For anything longer than a couple of hours, yes, they need to be kept refrigerated.
Sure! They are harder to find but would work just fine in this recipe. Note that the green cherries are sometimes flavored with lime or mint, although they can be the same flavor as the regular red maraschino cherries!
How did you like this cookie recipe?
Aren’t these cookies so delicious? If you gave this recipe a try, I would love for you to drop a comment down below letting me know how they turned out for you! What did your crew think? If you have any questions or run into any problems, I’ll try my best to help, too.
Other recipes you may enjoy
Chocolate Cherry Thumbprints Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided 12 ounces
- 1 ¾ cups quick or old-fashioned oats
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup butter, softened 10 2/3 tablespoons or 1 stick plus 2 2/3 tablespoons
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups maraschino cherries, drained and patted dry, stems removed and discarded two 10-oz. jars
Instructions
- Microwave 1 cup of the chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave in additional 10-20 second increments, stirring until smooth. Allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature.
- In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the melted chocolate. Stir in the oat mixture. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
- After the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2-inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Press deep centers into each cookie using your thumb. Place a cherry into each center.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. Let the cookies stand on cookie sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
- Melt the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips as mentioned above. Drizzle the chocolate over the cooled cookies.
Notes
- Cookies stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- You can also use green Maraschino cherries! They are harder to find but would work just fine in this recipe. Note that the green cherries are sometimes flavored with lime or mint, although they can be the same flavor as the regular red maraschino cherries!
Nutrition
Please note that the nutritional information listed on this page is an estimation based on the products I used. Ingredients and nutritional information can vary significantly between brands. Always be sure to read labels. Please verify that a recipe fits your needs before using it. Nutrition info may contain errors, so please verify it independently. Likewise, recipes may contain errors, so please use your common sense when following them.
Originally published on December 11, 2013. Updated on December 8, 2020.
Jamie, these cookies looks delicious! I love chocolate and cherries so glad you shared your grandmom's recipe with us! Pinning and sharing! Hope you are having a great week and have a happy Wednesday!
WOW oh WOW! Beautiful cookies and I bet they taste great!
Looks good! So does the chocolate drops!
Andrea
Oh my goodness, those look phenomenal!
YUM!! I may have to bake a batch of these to send to my mom-in-law for her birthday. She loves chocolate covered cherries!
These sound so yummy! I love chocolate!
Seriously, these cookies were amazing! SOO happy I have the recipe so I can make them again. Thanks again! 🙂
I love your Chocolate Cherry Thumbprints, perfect for the holidays! Thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and enjoy your weekend!
Miz Helen
I just heard about the swap – I can't forget about it next year! It seems pretty cool. I've actually never had cherry cookies of any variety, but I love cherry cordials and definitely need to bake some soon!
Jamie – these thumbprints look AMAZING!! Pinning now to my cookies board, yum!!!
G'day Jamie! LOVE thumbprint cookies, true!
GREAT photo! I could go for one of these right now too!
Cheers! Joanne
http://www.whatsonthelist.net
Viewed as part of the Foodie Friends Friday Christmas Cookie Exchange
@mickeydownunder
These are so pretty! I think I may make them for the teachers at school. Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.
I love the cherry in the middle.. it looks like a Christmas light. Thanks as always for bringing your recipe by foodie friday.
These look delicious Jamie. One of my dad's favorite christmas time treats is chocolate covered cherries, so I know he would love these. Pinned to my Christmas Treats board!
Krista @ Joyful Healthy Eats
Hi Jamie,
These look delicious. Thank you so much for sharing with Adorned From Above’s Link Party. We love having your join the fun.
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
Thank you for sharing this great recipe at The Pin Junkie! It was featured in this week’s holiday dessert roundup. http://www.thepinjunkie.com/2013/12/christmas-dessert-recipes.html Please stop by to grab a featured button and be sure to join the party tonight at 7:00 MST to share your best projects and another chance to be featured on The Pin Junkie! Wishing you very happy holidays!
Hi Jamie!
I featured your recipe for this week's Tasty Tuesday! I hope you had a wonderful holiday, and stop by to linkup this week!
http://www.mrsthreeinthree.com
Thanks