Maraschino Hearts

These heart-shaped thumbprint cookies are a Valentine’s Day showstopper. A simple butter-shortening cookie dough gets rolled, cut into hearts, and pressed with a thumbprint that holds a pool of chocolate chips. After baking, a bright red maraschino cherry gets pressed into the melted chocolate center while it’s still warm.

The combination of shortening and butter in the dough gives you the best of both: shortening keeps the cookies from spreading too much (so the hearts hold their shape), while butter adds real flavor. After a 2-hour chill, the dough rolls cleanly and cuts with sharp edges.

Once the chocolate sets around the cherry, each cookie looks like a little jeweled heart. They’re as much a craft project as a baking project, and they look gorgeous on a cookie plate.

Pro Tips

• Chill the dough the full 2 hours. Warm dough is soft and the hearts will lose their shape on the baking sheet.
• Make the thumbprint deep enough to hold about 6 chocolate chips without them rolling off. Push firmly with your thumb.
• Press the cherry into the melted chocolate immediately after baking, while the chips are still soft. Once the chocolate firms up, the cherry won’t stick.
• Pat the maraschino cherries dry with paper towels before pressing them in. Wet cherries cause the chocolate to seize and look dull.

Variations

• White chocolate: Use white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet for a sweeter, more pastel-looking center.
• Nutella fill: Skip the chocolate chips and pipe a small amount of Nutella into the thumbprint after baking for a hazelnut chocolate center.
• Raspberry jam: Fill the thumbprint with a teaspoon of raspberry jam instead of chocolate for a classic jam thumbprint variation.