FROSTED AMISH CHERRY SUGAR COOKIES
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Frosted Amish Cherry Sugar Cookies are crispy around the edges yet pillowy soft and chewy inside. They get their pink color, great flavor, and soft texture from maraschino cherries.
If you’re familiar with the Shirley Temple drink, these cookies taste like that!! Plus, they will melt in your mouth!
Every December, I share several cookie recipes with you. When looking for inspiration this year, I chose these Cherry Sugar Cookies because my youngest son loves maraschino cherries! I made a good decision because he loves these cookies.
They have just the right amount of cherry flavor (and aren’t they a beautiful color?). I also like the texture of the cherries in the cookies. The cherries aren’t as hard as raisins or dried cranberries; they’re soft yet chewy.
Additionally, that beautiful pink color is all from the cherries so there’s no additional food coloring. (Although, I’m sure those cherries are not naturally that red!)
ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
- Butter—For a chewy cookie, you want to use melted
butter . For cakey cookies, you use softened (room-temperature)butter . You can use either in this recipe, but I prefer meltedbutter . However, you need to use realbutter , not margarine. You can use either salted or unsalted. I used salted. - Flour – You need to use
all-purpose flour for these cookies, sifted then measured correctly. - Cherries – Maraschino cherries are also called cocktail cherries. They’re bright red, come either with or without stems, and they are in a liquid (like these). They are not candied cherries (without liquid). For cocktails, the stems are nice, but we don’t need stems for cookies, so purchase without them if you can find them. In the store, maraschino cherries are typically located with the cocktail mixers. They may also be on the baking aisle by the pie fillings, chocolate chips, and nuts.
- Flavorings—I prefer pure almond extract for these cookies. Almonds pair wonderfully with cherries. You can also use cherry extract, but I have difficulty finding it. If you don’t have almond (or cherry) extract, you can use pure vanilla extract.
- Cream of tartar—This ingredient keeps cookies soft. (Technically, the scientific explanation is that cream of tartar prevents sugar in the cookie dough from ‘crystalizing into crunchiness’.) You can find it here or with the baking ingredients and spices in the store.
HOW TO MAKE FROSTED AMISH CHERRY SUGAR COOKIES
Cherry Sugar Cookies are simple to make and almost foolproof.
- Drain the cherries and reserve the liquid. Mince the cherries and pat them dry with paper towels. They need to be very dry.
- In the bowl of your electric stand mixer, beat the melted
butter and sugars until creamy. - Add the egg and extract.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
- Now, slowly add the flour mixture to the
butter mixture. Don’t overbeat it, or the cookies will be tough. - Now add the minced cherries until just combined.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for 1 hour. This is an important step. Otherwise, the cookies will spread too much while baking.
- After the dough has chilled, heat your oven to 350°F.
- Use a spring-release scoop to get a consistent-sized cookie. My spring-release scoop holds 1 tablespoon of dough.
- Place a silicone baking mat on a sheet pan and place your cookie dough on it. Press the cookie with your palm or the bottom of a glass to about 1/2 inch thick.
- For 1 tablespoon of dough, I baked the cookies for 12 minutes. Watch the cookies carefully. You want to look for the edges to get slightly brown and the center of the cookie to turn from shiny to matte and be ‘set.’
As well, you’ll enjoy these similar cookies, Chocolate Cherry Blossoms.
HOW LONG WILL CHERRY SUGAR COOKIES LAST?
If you don’t frost your cookies, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days. You can keep them longer, but they won’t be as soft.
Frosted cookies must be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and will stay fresh for 7 days.
As well, you can freeze the cookie dough for two months.
TOOLS USED FOR MAKING COOKIE RECIPE:
MORE HOLIDAY COOKIES
- Mississippi Mud Cookies with Marshmallow Fluff and Chocolate Frosting
- Loaded Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies
- Blue Ribbon Chewy Molasses Ginger Cookies
- Ranger Cookies with Chex
- Soft Batch Glazed Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies
- Soft Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Recipe
- Pretzel Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Copycat PayDay Bars
- Dark Chocolate Brown Sugar Cookies
- Softbatch Cream Cheese Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles
- Original Quaker Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Please remember that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary based on the products used.
FROSTED AMISH CHERRY SUGAR COOKIES
Ingredients
COOKIES
- 12 ounces maraschino cherries drained (reserve juice), minced, and squeezed dry
- 1 cup butter melted
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar (aka confectioners)
- 1 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 and ¼ cup all-purpose flour sifted then measure
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
FROSTING
- 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 2 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 – 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 and ½ to 3 cups powdered sugar (aka confectioners) sifted
Instructions
- Drain the maraschino cherries, reserve the juice. Mince the cherries then pat them dry with a paper towel.
- In the bowl of your electric stand mixer, beat the melted butter and sugars until creamy.
- Add the egg and almond extract and blend.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Then, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.
- Next, add the minced cherries until just combined.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for 1 hour.
- After the dough has chilled, heat your oven to 350°F.
- Use a spring-release scoop to get a consistent-size cookie. My spring-release scoop holds 1 tablespoon of dough. Place a silicone baking mat on a sheet pan and place your cookie dough on it. Press the cookie with your palm or the bottom of a glass to about 1/2 inch thick.
- For 1 tablespoon of dough, I baked the cookies for 12 minutes. Watch the cookies carefully, you want to look for the edges get slightly brown and the center of the cookie will turn from shiny to matte and be 'set'.
- When the cookies are done, remove from the oven and allow them to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet. Then, remove them to a wire rack to cool completely. Cool the cookies completely before frosting.
FROSTING
- Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add 1 cup of the sifted powdered sugar, the cherry juice, and extract and mix until creamy.
- Slowly add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Frost cookies and serve. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
I have made these so many times. I have shared this recipe with friends and they also love them!
Thank you so much for letting me know! This makes me so happy!
This tasted so amazing! Thanks a lot for sharing this super easy to make cookies recipe! Fam really loves it! Will surely have this again! Highly recommended!
These will be beautiful on my Christmas cookie trays! And they’ll be a great complement to all the other flavors and textures on the plate.
Buttery, soft, and delicious! The perfect cookie for a cookie exchange!
We LOVE these cookies!!
Great recipe! I’ve never heard of using maraschino cherries in cookies before and can’t wait to try it!