Rich chocolatey cookies, baked with a tart cherry jam filling and dusted with powdered sugar, these Chocolate Cherry Engelsaugen are the perfect German Christmas Cookie!
Thumbprint vs. Engelsaugen Cookies?
One of the key differences is that Engelsaugen are traditionally made with the jam baked in the dent whereas Thumbprint cookies are baked with a dent but the jam is added afterwards.
What jam is best for German Thumbprint cookies?
This recipes is a fun variation on the traditional so I love using tart cherry jam but really any jam will work! With chocolate cookies specifically, I like raspberry, orange, or red currant if you can’t find or don’t have tart cherry!
How do I keep my Thumbprint cookies from spreading?
This recipe involves some chilling time once the cookies have been scooped, this helps to firm up the butter and the dough so make sure not to skip this part.
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Tips for making Chocolate Cherry Cookies
- Make sure that your egg is at room temperature which means around 70 degrees if your home is much colder or the egg is, it will cause the butter and chocolate mixture to harden.
- Sifting the cocoa powder is important because it tends to clump and will likely cause over mixing if you work to break them all up.
- Don’t be tempted to bake these cookies right after shaping, if you do you will end up with flat little chocolate cookies and all the jam will run out.
Ingredients for Chocolate Slice and Bake Cookies
- Butter: Butter is the key source of fat and richness in these cookies. It does not need to be at room temperature as it will melt with the chocolate.
- 60% Dark Chocolate: This is my preferred chocolate to use because semi sweet is a little bit sweeter and unsweetened will produce somewhat bitter cookies. However anything from 55%-70% will work great.
- Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar is used instead of granulated sugar for the cookie dough for the light and tender texture.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla Extract enhances the flavors in the cookies.
- Egg: This recipe uses one large egg but make sure it is at room temperature before adding it into the butter and chocolate mixture.
- Cocoa Powder: I use a blend or natural cocoa powder for these cookies.
- All Purpose Flour: Any all purpose flour will work for these! I have not yet tried any other flours with this recipe.
- Salt: Salt enhances the sweetness of the cookies and balance out the chocolate.
- Tart Cherry Jam: To get that classic chocolate cherry flavor, a yummy tart cherry jam is key. However, you could also use almost any jam left overs you have in your fridge.
- Bada Bing Cherries: I love to use these bourbon bada bing cherries in the center of the cookie after baking but you could also use a tart cherry from a can/jar or leave it out all together.
How to make Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Wet Ingredients
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, add in the butter and dark chocolate.
- Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between until both the chocolate and butter have melted together.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the confectioners’ sugar and use the whisk attachment, on medium/low speed, to whisk until combined.
- Add in the egg, salt, and vanilla extract and whisk again.
Dry Ingredients
- In a separate small bowl, sift together the flour and cocoa powder.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and use a rubber spatula to combine.
Shaping
- Line a small tray, plate or baking sheet with parchment paper and use a medium (1 ½ tablespoon) spring-loaded cookie scoop to scoop out 16 cookies.
- The dough will be quite soft.
- Carefully roll the balls of dough between the palms of your hands to make small chocolate balls.
- Use a teaspoon sized measure to press a small indentation into the center of each chocolate ball. If there are large cracks, simply press them back together but it is ok if they have smaller cracks.
- They can be close together because they will chill in the fridge first.
- Place the tray of cookies in the fridge for 1 hour. While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
Baking
- Once the cookies have chilled, transfer them to a half size baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Space the cookies evenly on the baking sheet.
- Use a spoon to scoop approximately 1 teaspoon of tart cherry jam into the center indentation of each cookie.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes rotating the pan after 6 minutes to ensure even baking.
- The cookies should still be shiny but they will look slightly dried where they have cracked.
- Once baked, remove the baking sheet from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- If you want to add the cherries, press one into the jam center of each cookie immediately after taking them out of the oven.
- Once cooled they can be garnished with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
- These are best stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. If possible do not stack the cookies when storing as the cherries and jam will stick to the bottom of another cookie.
Chocolate Cherry Engelsaugen
Rich chocolatey cookies, baked with a tart cherry jam filling and dusted with powdered sugar, these Chocolate Cherry Engelsaugen are the perfect German Christmas Cookie!
Servings: 16
Calories: 161kcal
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 95 grams butter
- 100 grams dark chocolate 60%-70%
- 120 grams powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg large, room temperature
Dry Ingredients
- 135 grams ap flour
- 21 grams cocoa powder
Finishing
- 75 grams tart cherry jam
Instructions
Cookie Dough
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, add in the butter and dark chocolate.
- Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between until both the chocolate and butter have melted.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the powdered sugar and use the whisk attachment, on medium/low speed, to whisk until combined.
- Add in the egg, salt, and vanilla extract and whisk again.
- In a separate small bowl, sift the cocoa powder and ap flour together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and use a rubber spatula to combine.
- Line a small tray, plate, or baking sheet with parchment paper and use a medium (1.5 tablespoon) spring loaded cookie scoop to scoop out 16 cookies.
- The dough will be quite soft.
- Carefully roll the balls of dough between the palms of your hands to make small chocolate balls.
- Use a teaspoon sized measure to press a small indentation into the center of each chocolate ball.
- If there are large cracks, simply press them back together but it is ok if they have smaller cracks.
- They can be close together because they will chill in the fridge first.
- Place the tray of cookies in the fridge for 1 hour. While the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
- Once the cookies have chilled, transfer them to a half size baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Space the cookies evenly on the baking sheet.
- Use a spoon to scoop approximately 1 teaspoon of tart cherry jam into the center indentation of each cookie.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes rotating the pan after 6 minutes to ensure even baking.
- The cookies should still be shiny but they will look slightly dried where they have cracked.
- Once baked, remove the baking sheet from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- If you want to add the cherries, press one into the jam center of each cookie immediately after taking them out of the oven.
- Once cooled they can be dusted with a little extra powdered sugar.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Notes
These cookies are perfect for any holiday tray because you can make them a few days in advance. I recommend not stacking any additional cookies on top of them as the jam will stick to the bottoms of the other cookies.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 161kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 82mg | Potassium: 83mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 166IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg
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