Chocolate-Covered Cherry Delights

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Melt the butter and mix in the sugar. When the mixture has cooled off a bit, add the egg and mix. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla and cocoa, stirring after each addition. Add the flour and mix well. The dough will be stiff and a bit crumbly.
3. Drain the cherries and reserve the juice.
4. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place on a greased cookie sheet, 12 per sheet. Press down in the center of each ball to make an indentation. Place one cherry in each indentation.
5. In a double boiler, combine the chocolate chips and the sweetened condensed milk. Heat on low, stirring, until the chocolate chips have melted. Start adding in some of the reserved cherry juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the sauce is thick and will glob off a spoon. If it won’t glob off, keep adding juice until it is the right consistency. Spoon a small bit of the sauce over the center of each cookie – just enough to cover the cherry. It shouldn’t drip down the sides.**
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.