Cherry Cream Cheese Cookies

Moist, tender and delicious Cherry Cream Cheese Cookies are the perfect cookie to decorate for any holiday or occasion.

I’ve only just the past couple of months started baking with maraschino cherries. You see, Matt is a huge chocolate-covered-cherry and cherry-cookie kind of guy.  I’m not quite sure why, but I’ve never made him anything “cherry” before, except for classic cherry pie.  

He was quite pleased this past month when he came home to homemade chocolate covered cherries and cherry wink cookies. I pretty much made his day with that treat.

How to Make Cream Cheese Cherry Cookies

These are easy cookies to make. You will have to plan ahead to refrigerate the cookie dough for at least an hour, but otherwise the dough comes together easily.

• Using a stand mixer (or an electric hand mixer), cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar together. Beat in almond extract. You can use vanilla extract (or another flavor) if you’d like, but we love the almond and cherry flavor combination together.
• In a separate small bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.
• Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour.
• Use a cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough into 30 pieces. Shape the dough into 1-in. balls, then roll in colored sugar. Use whatever type of color of coarse sugar you’d like! You can find colored sugar in the baking aisle by the sprinkles, or look in a craft store at the baking and cake making supplies.
• Using a parchment-lined cookie sheet, place the cookies 2″ apart. Bake at 350°F for 12-13 minutes. Do not overbake. This will ensure they stay soft.
• Remove from the oven and immediately press a cherry into the center of each cookie. Move the cookies to wire racks to cool.
• In a microwave-safe bowl, slowly melt the white chocolate chips in 10-15 second increments, stirring between each melting time. Use a spoon or fork to drizzle the chocolate overtop the cookies. The chocolate drizzle helps the cherry stay in place.
• Allow the chocolate to set completely before storing the cookies in an airtight container.

Can you put sprinkles in cookie dough?

We roll the cookie dough balls in sugar so the sugar is only the outside, but if you’d like to add a few sprinkles to the cookie dough you can do that also. Just don’t go overboard since it is adding more sugar to the dough.

You could get creative and colorful with what colored sugar you used.  Use pretty colors for a birthday theme, red and blue for a patriotic party, or even green sugar like we do here for Christmas.

The white chocolate drizzled on top is optional.  Personally, I think that white chocolate drizzle makes everything better, and it helps hold the cherry on the top of the cookie.

Do cookies with cream cheese need to be refrigerated?

The cream cheese is baked inside the cookies so they are ok to store at room temperature. Baked goods that have a cream cheese or cheesecake filling or frosting would need to be refrigerated.

How long do cream cheese cookies last?

These cookies will remain soft for 4-5 days at room temperature. They also freeze well so if you will have them longer than that, please package them well and freeze.

Cherry Cream Cheese Cookies

4.77 from 21 votes

Moist, tender and delicious Cherry Cream Cheese Cookies are perfect to decorate for any holiday or occasion.

Servings 30 cookies

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 32 minutes minutes

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Ingredients

 

• 1/2 cup salted butter room temperature, 4 ounces
• 3 ounces cream cheese room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100 grams
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour 140 grams
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup colored sugar
• 30 red maraschino cherries drained and dried

Optional topping:

• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• Using a stand mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar together in a large bowl. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Beat in almond extract. 
• In a separate small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and mix until well combined. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
• Shape the dough into 30, 1-in. balls, then roll in colored sugar. 
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Place the cookies 2" apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Do not over bake.
• Remove from the oven and immediately press a maraschino cherry into the center of each cookie. Move the cookies to wire racks to cool.
• You can leave the cookies as they are, or you can drizzle them in white chocolate which will help keep the cherry in place.
• In a microwave-safe bowl, slowly melt the white chocolate chips in 10-15 second increments, stirring between each melting time. Use a spoon or fork to drizzle the chocolate overtop the cookies. 
• Allow the chocolate to set completely before storing the cookies in an airtight container. Store at room temperature.

Video

Notes

Adapted from Taste of Home

Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.

The calories shown are based on the recipe making 30 drizzled cookies, with 1 serving being 1 cookie. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**

Nutrition

Calories: 103kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 46mg | Potassium: 32mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 136IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 0.2mg

Author Julie Clark

Course Cookies

Cuisine American

Calories 103

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