Topped with a chocolate kiss, these cherry-flavored cookies look super cute on a dessert tray. Share them with family and friends. —Joy Yurk, Grafton, Wisconsin

Cherry Kiss Cookies

butter, softened

confectioners' sugar

salt

maraschino cherry juice

almond extract

red food coloring, optional

all-purpose flour

maraschino cherries

54 milk chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350&deg;. In a large bowl, beat butter, confectioners' sugar and salt until blended. Beat in cherry juice, extract and, if desired, food coloring. Gradually beat in flour. Stir in cherries.

Shape dough into 1-in. balls. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are light brown. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into center of each cookie (cookie will crack around edges). Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

This recipe has became a Christmas and Valentines tradition. I don’t use the chocolate kisses and the food coloring. Instead I use 3 teaspoons of the cherry juice and 1 teaspoon of almond extract. I leave them as 1 inch balls and roll them into xtra powdered sugar. To look xtra festive I put the cookies into decorative candy paper cups.

I've had this recipe in my cookie folder for quite sometime and decided to 
make  them this year.  Very disappointing.  They had almost no flavor.  
Sure if you add more cherry juice, more almond extract, cherry extract, 
etc etc as some have mentioned, they may turn out better.  My husband 
and 2 sons are my critics and all three said they weren't good.  If so 
many are saying it wasn't good unless they altered the original recipe, 
then Taste of Home really should correct it.   Throwing the recipe in 
the trash, along with the cookies.  :(

<p>I think the quantity of flour is off base, because they were too dry. Had to dump them.</p>

I love this recipe and make it every year for Christmas with the added bonus of cherry cordial kisses that are only available around Christmas.

Love this recipe.   I only got 24 cookies as my yield. Also used cherry extract instead of almond extract due to nut allergies in the group eating the  cookies.   Also I needed to add  6 teaspoons full of cherry juice as well as the 2 used in the beginning, so dough wasn’t too crumbly. But adjustments needed were easy to do.

I made these for the first time today and I liked how easy they were. My complaint is they are super dry and not enough cherry flavor. I made a cherry glaze with amaretto and maraschino cherry syrup to pour on top. That seems to have added a lot to them.

I make a double batch of these every Christmas. I do add more almond and cherry juice for more flavor.

My daughter gave me this recipe a few years ago so they became our Christmas favorite. But I finally made them with the Hershey Cherry Cordial Kisses that I've wanted to try. They are amazing and my granddaughter just loves the cherries in them so I have extra for her to eat. They are a little too dry so I added a little more juice and cherries. The cherries have a slightly liquid center so they add some moisture. Tastes amazing. Definitely need to double the batch next time.

This version of the recipe omits what I think is a critical ingredient: 2 tsp of cherry extract! I've made these cookies for the past couple years using a different recipe I found on-line.  I couldn't figure out why this year's version tasted a bit bland, until I stumbled upon last year's left-over cherry extract in my spice cabinet.  The maraschino cherry juice just doesn't pack the same punch.  I've written the recipe down for future use so next year's batch will taste more like CHERRY and chocolate.

As written, this cookie dough is too crumbly and dry.  The 1" balls is too small for the choco kiss--just a little bigger of a ball makes a big difference.  Just double the recipe and make them bigger.  I agreed with the other reviewers who felt the flavor of the cookie was too mild/bland.  Finally, I think using dark chocolate Kisses would be a good bet.  It is a super cute cookie, just not reaching its potential.    I did make some changes.  I used 1 egg white, added more cherry juice, added some Amaretto, just trying to add moisture.  If I were going to do this one again, I would just use mini choco chips and then it wouldn't matter as much if the cookie is bland because the choco would add a nice flavor note.

I have created an account with Taste of Home specifically to diss this recipe. Y'all. Don't fall for it. If you want a kiss cookie, do the regular peanut butter recipe. I grant there may have been a little user error here. But I'm on the whole an experienced baker and these cookies were TERRIBLE. Dry. Tasteless. And then to add insult to injury, I put the kisses on while they were just a little too hot. The kisses melted enough to make them look like bloddy nipples. Don't do it people! Don't believe the hype!

I would add cherry extract next time as well, though I did add more cherry juice and more almond extract with a little more powdered sugar to compensate, it still wasn't quite flavorful enough.  They are a great cookie, with great color appeal! - just a few tweaks and they'll be perfect!  I will definitely be making them again.

The cookies were very good, loved the sweetness of them some people must not have taste buds.

Good and very pretty! Might try with dark chocolate kisses next time.

Cookies were ok. Don't think I'll be making them again. Also don't know how you can get 54 cookies out of the amount of batter this makes. I only got 39 & I used a small cookie scoop.

These turned out great. Taste good too. They look very pretty on a plate of goodies.

Don’t think these will ever replaace peanut butter blossoms in my heart, but they were a nice change of pace abd will look pretty on my Christmas cookie platter.

How fun! Just sweet enough. If you actually make them 1" in diameter, you will get at least 4 1/2 doz.

I made your cookies today. I read the receipe several times. There are no eggs in this receipe. I followed direcrions and my cookies are dry. Tasty but dry

Add 2 egg whites, another 1/4 cup flour, and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Otherwise they don't hold together and are not tender. Also, rolled in plain or red sugar looks nice.

Too bland. Cookie broke apart when Kiss inserted.

These cookies were easy to make for a Valentine's Day party I was going to.  The only thing I found is that I needed to bake them longer than the recipe called for.  I used milk chocolate kisses, cookies and cream kisses, and maraschino cherry halves for the middle, to give the cookies some variety on a plate.  My husband loved these cookies!  I will make them again.

These were a bit dry even though I added an extra teaspoon of maraschino juice.  The chocolate kiss overpowered the maraschino flavor.  I used Challenge butter and made 4 1/2 dozen.

I make these Cherry Kiss Cookies and they weren't all that great. They weren't very sweet enough. The idea was great. If I try this again I will make a sugar cookie and cherry to it.

cherry kiss cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total: 30 minutes

Servings: 2.5

Author : Taste of Home

Ingredients

Instructions

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