Double Chocolate Cherry Kiss Thumbprint Cookies
These double chocolate cherry kiss thumbprint cookies are the best cookies for Valentine’s day! The rich chocolate base features a delicious cherry Kiss center bursting with cherry flavor. Whether you’re hosting a Valentine’s tea, making goodie bags for a party, or just enjoying them at home, these little chocolate cherry thumbprint cookies are a great recipe to throw together for any occasion because they’re so easy!
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Why You Will Love These Double Chocolate Kiss Thumbprint cookies:
- This is an easy recipe to make! You can throw it together with minimal prep time.
- These cookies freeze well. Just roll into dough balls, place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer until cookie dough balls are solid. Store in freezer for up to 3 months in a Ziploc freezer bag. Add Hershey’s kisses after baking and freezing.
- This is an excellent decadent chocolate cookie base dough recipe. While the chocolate cherry combination is a classic, you can replace the cherry Hershey Kisses with a variety of flavored chips ( butterscotch, cherry, mint, or semisweet would be excellent!, Kiss candies, or other crushed candies. Make this recipe your own!
- These homemade cookies are an excellent addition to any holiday party platter or give in little Valentine’s goodie bags!
- These double chocolate cherry kiss thumbprint cookies store well for up to 4 days. Let the Kiss candies harden before storing.
- Add Cherry extract for a pop of cherry flavor
Why Buttermilk?
This recipe calls for buttermilk which is a little unique. Do you need it for the cookies to turn out well? The short answer is no. If you don’t have buttermilk and don’t want to make your own, you can substitute regular milk. There are however, benefits to using buttermilk which might inspire you to make your own quickly at home.
The acid and fat in the buttermilk break down the gluten strands in flour, resulting in a more tender, chewy cookie.
Buttermilk’s acidity reacts with baking soda to create gas, which causes the dough to rise and gives cookies more height.
How to make your own buttermilk:
To make buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of either lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup of milk. Stir well, and let sit for 5-10 minutes before using it. The acid in the lemon juice or vinegar will curdle the milk, creating the buttermilk consistency and adding the acidic benefits.
You can make this buttermilk recipe to scale however big or small you need it for the recipe you are using it in. 1/2 cup milk to 1/2 tbsp ( or 1.5t tsp) vinegar or lemon juice, or 2 cups milk to 2 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice.
Don’t waste leftover buttermilk! It can be stored in the fridge for 3 to 5 days and be used in several other recipes like pancakes, muffins, or biscuits!
do double Chocolate Cherry Kiss thumbprint Cookies need dark chocolate?
For the most depth of flavor you should use dark chocolate. I have, in a pinch, used semisweet chocolate chips. If you decide to do that, you can add 1tbsp of cocoa power + 1 additional tablespoon butter to the pot of melting chocolate/butter to add some extra depth to the recipe.
Ingredients:
Butter: room temperature
Dark Chocolate: either a bar or chocolate chips works.
Sugar: white sugar or cane sugar will work
Brown Sugar
Egg
Vanilla Extract: store bought or homemade
Buttermilk see note.
All-Purpose Flour
Baking Soda: Make sure the baking soda is fresh or else you could have flat cookies.
Baking Powder
Salt
Cherry Cordial Hershey’s Kiss Candies
White Almond Bark
Red Food Coloring
Tools You May Need:
Silicone Spatula
Parchment Paper
Cake Decorator Bag with Tip or Ziploc Baggie
How to Make Double Chocolate Kiss Thumbprint cookies:
Heat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line cookie sheet with parchment paper (if desired)
In microwave or heavy saucepan melt butter and dark chocolate. For microwave cook for 30 second intervals stirring in between until smooth. For saucepan, cook on med-low heat stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and egg with a whisk or on low speed to medium speed in a stand mixer.
Whisk in buttermilk.
Add melted chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt. Whisk flour mixture thoroughly.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and fold ingredients together until just combined. Scrape the sides of bowl as you go.
Shape dough 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheet.
Place in the preheated oven and bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Watch the baking time, you want soft and chewy cookies.
Cool for 2 minutes before placing unwrapped cherry chocolate kisses in the middle of the cookie. You don’t want them to be too hot or they will melt!
Remove from pan and moving to a cooling rack.
How To Make The Pink Glaze
Melt almond bark in a double broiler on the stovetop or microwave in 20 second intervals until smooth.
Add a few drops of liquid food coloring and blend well, add a few more drops if you want a brighter pink color.
Pour glaze into a pastry bag with a decorator tip or use a Ziploc baggie and cut a small portion of the corner off. Quickly pass back and forth over cookies so the glaze falls in a thin stream.
Storage:
Once cooled on the wire rack, let the Kiss candies harden. Then store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag on the counter 3 to 4 days.
One of my favorite things about these little cookies is that they freeze so well! Freeze extra dough if desired. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls of dough and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer until cookie dough balls are solid. Store in freezer for up to 3 months in a Ziploc freezer bag.
Double Chocolate Cherry Kiss Thumbprint Cookies
These double chocolate cherry kiss thumbprint cookies are the best cookies for Valentine's day! The rich chocolate base features a delicious cherry Kiss center bursting with cherry flavor.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter - room temperature
- 3oz. dark chocolate: bar or chips
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 bag Hershey's Kisses- Cherry center flavored
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Line cookie sheet with parchment paper (if desired)
- In microwave or heavy saucepan melt butter and dark chocolate. For microwave cook for 30 second intervals stirring in between until smooth. For saucepan, cook on med-low heat stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and egg with a whisk or on low speed in an electric mixer.
- Whisk in buttermilk.
- Add melted chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt. Whisk flour mixture thoroughly.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and fold ingredients together until just combined.
- Shape dough 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Watch the baking time, you want soft and chewy cookies.
- Cool for 2 minutes before placing unwrapped cherry chocolate kisses in the middle of the cookie. You don’t want them to be too hot or they will melt!
- Remove from pan and move to a cooling rack
How To Make The Pink Glaze
Melt almond bark in a double broiler on the stovetop or microwave in 20 second intervals until smooth.
Add a few drops of liquid food coloring and blend well, add a few more drops if you want a brighter pink color.
Pour glaze into a pastry bag with a decorator tip or Ziploc baggie and cut a small portion of the corner off.
Quickly pass back and forth over cookies s the glaze falls in a thin stream.
Notes
Storage:
Once cooled on the wire rack, let the Kiss candies harden. Then store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag on the counter 3 to 4 days.
One of my favorite things about these little cookies is that they freeze so well! Freeze extra dough if desired. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls of dough and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer until cookie dough balls are solid. Store in freezer for up to 3 months in a Ziploc freezer bag.
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This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure policy here.
