Cherry Chocolate Kiss Cookies - Valentine Kisses

Total Time: 1 hr 14 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 14 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cherry juice
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped or crushed maraschino cherry
• 1 cup granulated or decorator sugar (as needed)
• 12 ounces hershey chocolate kisses (1 per cookie) or 12 ounces hershey's hugs chocolates (1 per cookie)

Recipe

• 1 beat butter, add sugar and salt. beat in cherry liquid and almond extract. beat in flour. fold in cherries.
• 2 refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes (you don't have to, but dough is easier to work with when cold).
• 3 roll dough into balls, coat in sugar and place on cookie sheet. these cookies will flatten on their own, but i typically put a thumb print in the center to flatten some.
• 4 bake at 325 degrees for 14 minutes. let cool on pan for 1-2 minutes.
• 5 add hershey kiss/hug to center of the cookies. (hugs melt especially fast, you may want to let the cookies cool a little longer before adding hugs, but cookies should still be warm so chocolate can melt into the cookie).
• 6 transfer to wire rack to cool.