Cherry Kiss Cookies are buttery, cherry-studded shortbread-style cookies topped with a chocolate kiss, and they are exactly as fun as they sound. Pretty pink, easy to make, and naturally egg-free, they’re a great option for cookie trays, classroom parties, or baking with kids. If you’re looking for a festive cookie that stands out on a holiday plate, this is it!

I think of these cookies as the cheerful cousin of classic peanut butter blossoms. Instead of peanut butter and granulated sugar, we’re working with a soft, melt-in-your-mouth butter cookie flavored with maraschino cherries, then finishing each one with a Hershey’s Kiss pressed right into the center. The result is a cookie that tastes like cherry ice cream and chocolate in bite-sized form.

The base is close to a shortbread cookie: no eggs, confectioners’ sugar instead of granulated, and a higher proportion of butter for that super tender, slightly crumbly texture. If you like the look of a sparkly cookie, a quick roll or sprinkle of pink sanding sugar on top really takes these to the next level. Roll the dough into balls, bake, and press a chocolate kiss into each cookie. The longest part of the recipe is unwrapping the kisses (the perfect job to hand over to little helpers!).

Whether you add them to a Christmas cookie platter, bake them for Valentine’s Day, or just want an excuse to buy a bag of Kisses, these Cherry Kiss Cookies deserve a spot in your baking rotation. They’re simple to make, festive to serve, and the cherry-chocolate combination is always a hit.

This recipe is part of The Sweetest Season, an annual virtual cookie swap. Every year, food bloggers get together to share new holiday cookie recipes and help raise money for Cookies 4 Kids’ Cancer, a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new treatments for childhood cancer. Help us raise money for this important cause! Donate through our fundraising page and OXO will be matching every dollar raised through the end of 2025, up to $100,000.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Pictured below is what you’ll need to make these Cherry Kiss Cookies, along with some key ingredient notes and substitutions.

• Maraschino Cherries: You can use cocktail cherries, like Luxardo, for a deeper cherry flavor, but the cookies will be less sweet and more grown-up tasting. You can also use fresh or frozen sweet cherries, patted dry and finely diced. The flavor is delicious, although you’ll lose the classic maraschino taste and color.
• Maraschino Cherry Juice: If you’re short on juice, top off the measurement with milk or heavy cream plus an extra drop of two of food coloring.
• Hershey’s Kisses: Use your favorite flavor: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, or even cherry-filled Kisses. For a completely different look, press a square of chocolate or a chocolate disc into the cookies instead of a Kiss.
• Red Food Coloring: Several drops of red food coloring gives the cookies their pink hue. You can adjust the amount depending on how vibrant you’d like the color. Gel food coloring is more concentrated, so start with a drop or two. For a more natural option, use a few teaspoons of beet powder stirred into the flour, or omit entirely for a very pale pink color.
• All-Purpose Flour: For a gluten-free option, use a 1:1 gluten-free baking blend that includes xanthan gum. The cookies may be slightly more delicate, so let them cool fully before moving. You can also replace up to 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour with finely ground almond flour for a slightly nuttier flavor and more tender crumb.
• Sanding Sugar (optional): A sprinkle of pink sanding sugar on top adds sparkle and extra crunch, if desired.

How to Make Cherry Kiss Cookies

1. Cream Butter and Sugar: Beat the softened butter and confectioners’ sugar together in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until smooth, creamy, and slightly lightened in color. Mix in the salt and baking powder until evenly distributed, then add the cherry juice, vanilla, and food coloring and beat until the dough is uniform in color.

2. Add Flour and Cherries: Sift in the majority of the flour and mix on low speed just until a soft dough starts to form, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir the finely diced cherries into the dough with a spatula, then add the remaining flour and gently knead by hand until the dough is cohesive and not overly sticky. Cover the bowl and chill the dough in the refrigerator until the butter firms up slightly.

3. Bake the Cookies: Use a small cookie scoop or spoon to portion the dough into roughly one-inch balls, roll gently between your palms for smooth rounds, and place on the baking sheets without flattening. Bake until the cookies are just set and a faint ring of gold brown appears around the bottom of the edge.

4. Add the Kisses: Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately press a chilled Hershey’s Kiss into the center of each cookie, then sprinkle with sanding sugar (if using). Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool, then refrigerate them briefly to set the chocolate.

Melt In Your Mouth Cookies

These Cherry Kiss Cookies bake up soft and tender, even though there are no eggs in the dough. With no egg proteins to help set the structure, these cookies should be fragile or crumbly. So how do they still hold together while keeping that delicate, melt-in-your-mouth bite? The answer comes from using confectioners’ sugar instead of granulated sugar and that tiny bit of starch that comes along with it.

Kitchen Chemistry

Confectioners’ sugar is finely ground sucrose mixed with a small amount of starch (usually cornstarch). The fine sugar crystals dissolve quickly, so they don’t form the same rigid crystalline network as granulated sugar, while the starch granules compete with flour proteins for water and physically interrupt gluten formation. With less developed gluten, the cookies set into a “short,” tender crumb that melts on your tongue.

In cookies made with granulated sugar, larger sugar crystals dissolve more slowly. As the dough heats, those crystals partially melt and then recrystallize, contributing to a crisper, more structured texture. Here, the sugar particles are so small that they behave almost like a dissolved syrup in the dough, creating a smoother matrix.

At the same time, the cornstarch added to the confectioners’ sugar is full of starch granules that hydrate and swell in the oven, blocking interactions between gluten-forming proteins. Less gluten means less elasticity and chew, and more “shortness” – the baking term for tender texture that breaks rather than stretches.

If you swapped in granulated sugar, you’d notice the difference: the cookies would likely spread a bit more, bake up crispier, and lose some of that ultra-tender, shortbread feel that makes these Cherry Kiss Cookies so distinctive.

Tips and Tricks for the Best Cherry Kiss Cookies

1. Dry the Cherries: After draining the maraschino cherries, pat them dry before chopping to remove excess moisture that can cause the cookies to spread or bake up gummy.
2. Chop Cherries Finely: Keep the cherry pieces very small, so they distribute evenly through the dough and don’t create big wet pockets that can lead to uneven baking or cracking.
3. Chill the Kisses: Refrigerating the Hershey’s Kisses before baking helps them keep their iconic shape when pressed into the hot cookies and prevents over-melting.
4. Chill the Dough: The quick 10-minute dough chill is important for reducing spread and maintaining a rounded shape, especially with the extra moisture from cherries and cherry juice.
5. Add Kisses Immediately: Add the chocolate Kisses as soon as the cookies come out of the oven so the bottoms melt just enough to adhere firmly as they cool.
6. Freeze Cookie Dough: For make-ahead baking, shape the dough into balls and freeze on a baking sheet, then store in a freezer bag. Bake directly from frozen, adding an extra minute or two to the bake time.
7. Storage: Keep Cherry Kiss Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, separating layers with parchment papers so the kisses don’t stick to the cookies above, or freeze for up to 3 months.
8. Recommended Tools: Food Processor | Stand Mixer | Baking Sheets | Parchment Paper | Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack

More Cherry Desserts

• Three Layer Chocolate Cherry Cake
• Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake
• Cherry Chocolate Chunk Muffins
• Chocolate Cherry Bundt Cake
• Chocolate Chip Cherry Pound Cake