These cherry coconut cookies are my grandmother’s recipe from way back when, and they are perfect to make for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or just because it’s Tuesday… because who really needs an excuse to eat a homemade cookie?!
If you’re looking for a delicious and unique cookie that’s soft and chewy with just the right amount of crispness on the outside, and a perfectly sweet cherry flavor, then you’ve found it!
Or, if you need an easy cookie exchange recipe that will beat out a boring old chocolate chip any day of the week, then this is it!
These cherry coconut cookies, or cherry snowball cookies as some people call them, are brought to you by Donda (my grandmother). We called her “Donda” because that was my first word as a baby… though I know it’s not actually a word, it made a great moniker for my grandma.
Donda was the BEST cook, and she passed that trait along to my Momma (see Momma’s Blue Ribbon Chocolate Sheet Cake here!). Somehow the cooking gene skipped me, but I did manage to bake these yummy cherry coconut cookies perfectly!
And if I can recreate a recipe all by myself without any hiccups, then you know it’s a great recipe!
Because as most of y’all know… I’m no cook.
Like… Can boiling water catch on fire?
Or… Do these pork chops look golden brown yet?
But back to these awesome cookies…
They have a deliciously subtle cherry flavor, and they’re sweet without being too sweet. And the texture is AMAZING! They are oh-so slightly crunchy on the outside, but the inside is soft and chewy, almost reminiscent of a cake pop or like a cookie truffle, if such a thing existed.
And they’re pink and super cute… so BONUS!
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Here’s how to make my Donda’s yummy Cherry Coconut Cookies:
Ingredients for Cherry Coconut Cookies:
These yummy homemade cherry cookies only take a few ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your pantry:
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries
- 1/2 cup grated sweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
FOR THE PINK GLAZE:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp cherry juice (from the maraschino cherry jar)
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- red sugar sprinkles to sprinkle on top of glaze (optional)
Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Step 2: Cream together butter and sugar.
Your butter and sugar mixture should look like this:
Step 3: Mix in egg and vanilla.
Mix in egg and vanilla until combined.
Step 4: Sift together all dry ingredients.
Step 5: Add dry ingredients, chopped cherries, coconut, and chopped nuts to butter/sugar mixture and mix until just combined.
The dough for your cherry coconut cookies should look like this:
Be careful to not over mix the cookie dough!
Step 6: Form into 1″ balls and place on greased cookie sheet.
We used a 2 tbsp scoop like this one to form our balls, and it worked really well!
You can place these cookies pretty close together on the cookie sheet, because they should not flatten and spread much at all.
Step 7: Bake at 375 degrees for about 10-11 minutes.
These cherry coconut cookies will be very slightly brown around the edges like this… See the light brown color from the coconut getting toasted in the oven?
Be careful not to over bake, or the cookies won’t have the awesome chewy texture!
Transfer the cherry coconut cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before topping with glaze.
Step 8: While cherry coconut cookies are cooling, make glaze by mixing all 4 glaze ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.
If your glaze starts to harden before you have the chance to drizzle or dunk all of your cookies, then you can microwave it in a microwave safe bowl for about 6-8 seconds to thin it out again.
Step 9: Top cooled cherry coconut cookies with glaze.
You can either dip your cookies upside down into the glaze, or use a spoon to drizzle the glaze on top of the cooled cookies.
The glaze will start to harden after a few minutes, so these cookies are perfect to stack in a cute holiday tin or to pack up to take to a cookie exchange.
For a really great gift, make a few of these cookie exchange recipes, and wrap a variety of homemade cookies up on a plate to gift to your neighbors, friends, teachers, or the mailman.
We took these yummy cherry snowball cookies to a holiday party and passed some out to neighbors, and when my kids discovered that they were all gone, they immediately wanted me to make more!
I didn’t protest.
And, yes, they really are THAT GOOD… especially if you like sugar cookies and you’re a maraschino cherry fan!
Here’s the printable recipe to add to your collection of must-make, delicious, homemade cookies recipes:
Cherry Coconut Cookies
These cherry coconut cookies, from my grandma's recipe, are super yummy with a subtle, not-too-sweet cherry flavor. They bake up slightly crisp on the outside with a chewy soft inside. Top with a vanilla-cherry glaze and decorate with red sugar! These yummy homemade cookies will be the star of your cookie exchange!
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries
- 1/2 cup grated, sweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp maraschino cherry juice (from the jar)
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cream together butter and sugar.
- Mix egg and vanilla into butter/sugar mixture until combined.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add sifted dry ingredients and cherries, coconut, and nuts to butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined.
- Drop onto greased cookie sheet. We used a 2 tbsp scoop, leveled to form our cookies.
- Bake cookies at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cookies should be very sligthly browned on the edges. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
- While cookies are cooling, make the glaze by combining powdered sugar, cherry juice, melted butter, and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. If the glaze starts to harden up, you can microwave it for about 6-7 seconds to thin it out again.
- Once cookies are cool, top with glaze and decorate with sprinkles (optional).
Notes
Once cool, these cookies can be stacked with wax paper in between layers, and stored in an airtight container.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
36Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 126Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 89mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 1gSugar: 11gProtein: 1g
Nutritional information provided and calculated by Nutritionix. Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. Different online calculators may calculate nutritional information differently. Also, the addition of optional ingredients and varying brands and products may change the information. For the most accurate data, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients that you use.
And be sure to PIN this yummy homemade cookies recipe for later!
Comments & Reviews
Do you have to use nuts in the recipe
Hi Laura! I have not tried it without the nuts, so not sure about the ratios and if the cookies would be too thin. If you try without nuts, just be sure to drain the cherries extra well.
Great recipe. Really like how your post shows what each step of recipe should look like!
Do you have any idea if this would work with a 1 to 1 gluten free flour?
Hi Linda! I have not tried this recipe with gluten-free flour, so I’m not sure. 🙂
How can I get more cherry flavor?..seems dough did not have enough…Thank you
Hi Maureen! You can try adding more chopped cherries, but I would be careful about adding too much more cherry juice from the jar… I have tried that before and it threw off the consistency of the dough because of the extra moisture. 🙂
I made these for a cookie Christmas gifts with some other cookies. These are terrific, received many compliments. I will make these again,good recipe. Thank you for sharing.
I am making these right now and they seem to be spreading more than what it appears in the pictures. Am I doing something wrong?
Cookies are so delicious!!! I used a 2 tablespoon scoop and was only able to make 19 rather than the 36 in the recipe. Next time I’ll use a 1 tbsp scoop so they last longer. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Easy to make and did I already say delicious!
Hi Marta! I guess I wasn’t doing full, level scoops (sometimes that happens when my 8 year old daughter wants to be sous chef!), but glad that you thought my grandma’s cookies were delicious! We love them too! Thanks for your comment. 🙂