Glazed Maraschino Cherry Cookies — Soft, buttery cookies with the fun surprise of a cherry baked in!! The cherry juice glaze boosts the cherry flavor even more! Easy cookies that make everyone smile!!
Cute Frosted Cherry Cookies
I’ve always loved maraschino cherries. As a kid in my Shirley Temples, as an adult in my Malibu Sunsets, and they’re front and center in my grandma’s Sweet Cherry Bread.
It’s been years since I’ve baked them into cookies or bars, and I was overdue for a new maraschino cherry recipe. The cookies were worth the wait and they’re just so fun.
Soft, buttery, pink cookies with the surprise of a juicy, sweet maraschino cherry in the middle that also helps keep the cookies moist. The cherry juice glaze boosts the cherry flavor even more.
It’s a unique cookie recipe in that there’s no egg, no baking soda or baking powder, and rather than granulated or brown sugar, confectioners’ sugar is used.
They’re perfect for Valentine’s Day, Mothers’ Day, Easter, Christmas, or anytime you need something that’ll make you smile. Because pink cookies will do the trick!
What’s in Maraschino Cherry Cookies?
For this maraschino cherry cookie recipe, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Red food coloring
- Maraschino cherries (and their juice)
How to Make Maraschino Cherry Cookies
These frosted cherry cookies require some assembly, but they’re so easy to make! Make the dough as you would any other cookie dough, then scoop it into 10 equal-sized mounds of dough.
Use your thumb to make a shallow well in the dough, and insert one cherry into the well. Carefully seal and crimp the edges around the cherry and flatten mounds slightly, taking care not flatten too much and squish the cherry.
Chill the cookies for at least 3 hours before baking them. After they’ve finished baking, they’ll need to cool completely before topping with glaze.
Can I Use Regular Sugar?
No! You must use confectioners’ sugar (aka powdered sugar) to make this cherry cookie recipe. Confectioners’ sugar makes for ultra soft, crumbly cookies.
Tips for Making Cookies with Maraschino Cherries
You MUST chill the cookie dough before baking it. If you don’t chill the dough, your cookies will flatten out in the oven and will lose their bonbon shape.
A few readers have asked if they can make the glaze with chocolate instead of maraschino cherry juice to create a chocolate-covered cherry effect. Yes, you can! I would just melt about 1 cup chocolate chips with 1 tbsp of butter or cream and use that instead of the glaze.
For another twist on this recipe, try soaking the maraschino cherries in bourbon before inserting them into the cookies. I haven’t tried this myself, so I can’t say for sure how it’d affect the texture of the cookies. But it sure sounds good!
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Glazed Cherry Bonbon Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk, plus more if needed, see step 3 below (I used cashewmilk)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- about 5 to 10 drops red food coloring or as desired, optional but recommended
- about 10 maraschino cherries
Glaze
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted if yours is particularly lumpy
- 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice, or as needed for desired glaze consistency
Instructions
Cookies:
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and handheld electric mixer), add the butter, confectioners’ sugar, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the milk, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed to incorporate, about 1 minute. (Mine didn’t incorporate fully, but it was mixed in. It’ll fully incorporate after adding the flour.) Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the flour, salt, and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute. If your dough is overly dry, crumbly, and not coming together, add a tiny splash of milk as needed until the dough comes together and is smooth.
- Optionally, add red food coloring to tint the dough as pink as desired and mix well to incorporate. All food coloring types and brands vary, as do preferences, so add accordingly. Beat well after each drop or two since you can’t un-do it and sometimes the color intensity will sneak up on you.
- Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop or your hands, form approximately 10 equal-sized mounds of dough.
- Use your thumb to make a shallow well, like you’re making thumbprint cookies, and insert one cherry into each mound of dough. Carefully seal and crimp the edges around the cherry and flatten mounds slightly, taking care not flatten too much and squish the cherry.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. It’s a bit tricky with pink cookies to tell if they’re done, but I err on the side of underbaking so they stay softer over time.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet completely. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Glaze:
- To a large, microwave-safe bowl, add the butter and heat on high power to melt, about 1 minute.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar, cherry juice, and whisk to combine. As necessary, add additional cherry juice to achieve desired glaze consistency.
- Using a small spoon, add about 2 teaspoons of glaze to the top of each cookie, just enough so that some will drip down the sides. You’ll have extra glaze which will keep airtight in the fridge for weeks and can be used for future baking.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Cherry Dessert Recipes:
Sweet Soft Cherry Bread with Cherry-Almond Glaze — An easy quick bread that’s perfect for Valentine’s Day, Easter, or Mother’s Day! Because you can never have too much pink!
Maraschino Cherry White Chocolate Cookies — Super soft buttery cookies stuffed with white chocolate and cherries! Perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Chocolate Chip and Cherry Blondies — Fruit for dessert takes on new meaning with these easy bars!
Cherry Pie Bars — Just like your favorite cherry pie but way easier!! A no-roll crust with juicy cherries and topped with a sweet glaze! Perfect for parties, events, and holidays!!
Cherry Cream Pie – An old-fashioned pie with homemade scratch crust topped with NO-BAKE layers of sweetened cream cheese along with juicy cherry pie filling!! If you like cherry pie, you’re going to LOVE this amped up version!!
Triple Chocolate Cherry Cake — Loaded with juicy cherries and topped with an easy homemade chocolate frosting. I used a few shortcuts in this recipe to save time, but this cake tastes completely homemade!
Pineapple Coconut Bars — I combined my love of pina coladas and seven layer bars into a fast, easy, no-mixer dessert that tastes like the tropics.
Turned out beautiful and will be a hit at my grandson’s Valentine’s Day party!! Thank you!!!
Wow these cookies are so great. I tried the recipe and I can’t believe it came out so well. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad they came out so well for you!
Wow these cookies are so great. I tried the recipe and I can’t believe it came out so well. Thanks so much for the recipe.
I’d love to make these for my dad, who is very fond of chocolate covered cherries. Do you have any suggestions on how I could make the glaze a chocolate glaze rather than a cherry one? Or do you have another recipe with a chocolate glaze that I could sub in this recipe for? :)
I would just melt about 1 cup chocolate chips with 1 tbsp of butter or cream and give that a try.
I made these cookies 30 years ago I am so glad I went on your website and found them , getting ready to make a batch but I don’t remember chillin them first
That’s great that you made these 30 years ago! Fun memories for you I’m sure!
Hi! These cookies taste delicious-I just made a batch! I followed the directions very carefully, I chilled my mounds overnight, however, my bonbons still flattened out. What I did was removed them from the refrigerator and then placed directly in the oven. I have created a second batch. In step 7, once I remove the mounds from the frig, should I allow them to get room temperature again before baking? Do you have a suggestion as to why my bonbons flattened out? Thanks so much!
Definitely put them straight from fridge to oven, don’t let the dough come to room temp.
I wrote a tips and tricks for perfect cookies here. I strongly recommend Silpats, King Arthur flour, etc. Small changes can have huge impacts on results. Maybe something will jump out at you that you could tweak. https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/the-best-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it tasted great!
These were super easy, moist, and a big hit! I served them with shots of vodka at a party. HA! You really can’t go wrong with anything on this website, everything has been awesome!
Ahh what a lovely glazed cookies. Love the recipe. Visiting your blog for the first time. Very interesting recipes you have. Great cooking !!
Thanks for the compliments!
How did I miss commenting on these? They’re the prettiest cookies EVER!! I could eat an entire jar of maraschino cherries. My kid won’t touch them. I don’t know who I’m raising…
I’m with you with the cherries, could eat an entire jar :) I can’t believe J won’t eat them!
These are so pretty Averie! My daughter completely LOVES Maraschino cherries so I know she’s going to go crazy for this recipe and since it’s her birthday next week I just might surprise her!
Our daughters would get along SO WELL! Maraschino cherries are my daughters favorite ‘fruit’ AND her birthday is next week, too!! Wow…
I read the title as “Glazed Cherry Bourbon Cookies” and I got really excited!
i mean….these are good too though. ;)
I know how you love your bourbon :)
You could marinate the cherries in bourbon overnight before inserting into the cookie dough??? Just thinkin’ best of both worlds!
Ha, yes! There are some recipes I’ve seen with say dried cranberries or raisins and you soak those overnight in liquor and bake them into cookies or quickbreads.
These are just the cutest little things! You are the cookie queen!
Those are so cute! They look like grand-mother cookies (which is the best of things since grand-mothers are the best)! It’s like a vintage cookie recipe but very original, I’m very excited to try it!
These really do look like bon bons ( they look buttery and delicious too)! I have always been a fan of cherries and these really have a beautiful color to them!
They turned out to be a ‘sleeper’ favorite of mine! They got better over time and I kept going back for them, hiding the last couple from my family :)
This is my favorite kind of cookie dough, like the kind we use for snowballs. Powdered sugar makes for the butteriest, most melt-in-your-mouth cookie! And the pink with the cherry in the middle is gorgeous!
You’re right, it’s very reminiscent of snowball dough, never thought of that but it is. And you’re so right about the powdered sugar and how the cookies are so buttery and just melt in your mouth!
Hi Averie. First time i visit your blog. its amazing. and i like this rec.
thank and godbless you