The occasion was another potluck at work. In addition to making my mom's Sup Mang Cua (crab asparagus soup), I wanted to bake something. I found a recipe for chocolate covered cherry cookies in a holiday baking magazine at the library. If you know me, or go through this blog, you'll know that I am not a cookie baker. I usually outsource that--or have to be closely supervised.
But not one to be defeated by butter, eggs and flour, I gave it another try. On the sign-up list at work, I put myself down for the soup and "Dessert--to be a surprise!" Whether burnt or ambrosial, I suppose my coworkers were in for a surprise either way.
1. Cream 1/2 cup of butter with 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp. of baking powder, 1/4 tsp. of baking soda, and 1/4 tsp. of salt. Beat in 1 egg and 1-1/2 tsp. of vanilla.
2. Add 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. Stir in 1-1/2 cups of flour with a wooden spoon.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls, placed about 2-inches apart on cookie sheets. Press you thumb into the center of each ball and place a maraschino cherry in the center.
4. Meanwhile, make the frosting by warming 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan and melt 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips into it. Stir in about 4 tsps. of the juice drained from the cherries. Add more juice if the chocolate frosting is too thick.5. Spoon a little bit of the frosting over each cherry. Bake about 10 minutes in a 350 degree (F). Let cool on the cookie sheet about a minute before transferring to a wire rack.
6. Eat.
