Cherry Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies

Last Christmas, my family didn't go caroling. Instead, my mom had a bunch of our neighbors come over and sing songs with us.

To be honest I wasn't feeling it. I mean, you can either be sitting in a folding chair singing songs with everyone, or on a hay ride thingy knocking on people's doors and surprising them with carols.

Hay ride thingy wins.

But, "caroling" last year wasn't a total waste. We had hot cocoa, and some of the neighbors brought cookies.

One lady brought these cherry cheesecake cookies. Ohmygosh guys they were amazing. I pretty much just ate those the whole night. I vowed to figure out how to make these little bites of heaven.

And now I have.

I know I can start to sound like a broken record, with almost all my recipes being "the best!". But guys, this cookie REALLY is one of the best I've ever had. Like, if you were to try any recipe on here, this would be the one. Or this one. And this one and this one.

I'm not a big cheesecake fan, but these were seriously amazing. Most of my siblings are cheesecake and cherry haters, and everyone who tried these loved them.

They have a sweet cheesecake cookie base, rolled in graham cracker crumbs, and have a cherry pie filling center. Not too complicated, with great results.

You really have got to try these because they are SO good!

Cherry Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies 
Everyone raves about this recipe, and once you try them you'll know why! A sweet cheesecake cookie, rolled in graham cracker crumbs, with a cherry pie filling center! 
Makes: About 1 1/2 dozen cookies  
5 stars *****
Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/4 sticks butter (1 stick with 2 tablespoons), softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling
• about 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. 
2. In another bowl with an electric mixer, beat sugar, cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy, for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix. 
3. Reduce the speed to the lowest setting. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Chill the dough until firm, 20 -30 minutes. 
4. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet well, you may need more than one. Put the graham cracker crumbs in a shallow dish. 
5. Roll the dough into balls, then roll in the graham cracker crumbs. Place the balls on the prepared sheet. Make an indentation in the middle of each ball. I like using the tablespoon method. Place 1 cherry in the dimple, or more if they will fit. Bake for 12 - 13 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for five minutes on the sheet. 

Notes:
*I didn't have to use the whole can of filling and still had some leftover
*the tablespoon method is just substituting a measuring spoon instead of your thumb to make much better holes
*I preferred these warm, but if you like your cookies cooler, you can then let them cool on a wire rack. 

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

These were seriously like little bites of heaven, I've already made them again twice!

If you ever have some cherry pie filling on head, make these!