Today's Cookie Recipe #3 - Cherry Chocolate Kisses

Cookie Exchange Parties are SO MUCH FUN - for a few simple reasons:You get together with your friends

• You make only ONE kind of cookie and finish your holiday baking, after swapping out
• You get new recipes
• You often have snacks or games!

That being said, I do one every year - in December, about 2 weeks before Christmas. (You can read about it HERE or see a TV segment I did on it http://youtu.be/-iUR7GlAiQw).

I thought it would be fun to have a collection of 30 fun recipes to try - one a day in November - so you can be prepared for that holiday baking!

Today's recipe comes from The Curvy Carrot!

Cherry Chocolate Kisses
Servings: approximately 36 cookies

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened, but still cool
1 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons maraschino cherry “juice”
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
Granulated sugar, for sprinkling the cookies
36 milk chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute.
3. Reduce the speed to the lowest setting and slowly add the powdered sugar and salt.
4. Add the cherry juice and the almond extract until combined.
5. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the flour, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
6. Increase the mixer speed to medium and add the cherries.
7. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, and place the balls on a baking sheet, approximately 2 inches apart.
8. Using your thumb, gently press each cookie in its center until the cookie is about 1/2-inch thick.
9. Sprinkle each cookie with a little granulated sugar.
10. Bake the cookies until the bottoms are lightly browned, about 14 minutes.
11. Once removed from the oven, immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie’s center.
12. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.