Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

I'm not a huge fan of cherries...but these cookies are yummy! I made them for my Grandma's birthday because she loves Cherry Mash. I also made some with blueberries and raspberries (I just covered them in the chocolate frosting before I added the extra cherry juice). I loved the blueberry cookies....they reminded me of Harry & David's chocolate covered blueberries, which I am now craving. ha ha. enjoy!

Ingredients
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
½ cups Butter, Room Temperature
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 whole Egg
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla
1 jar (10 Oz.) Maraschino Cherries, Drained, Reserve Juice
1 package (6 Oz.) Semisweet Chocolate Chips (or blocks of chocolate)
½ cups Sweetened, Condensed Milk

Instructions
-In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and soda. Blend well and set aside.
-In a mixing bowl, beat together butter or margarine and sugar on low speed until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well.
-Gradually add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; beat until smooth and well blended.
-With hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls; place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press down the center of the dough with your thumb.
-Drain maraschino cherries well, reserving juice. Place a cherry in the center indention of each cookie.
-In small saucepan, combine chocolate pieces and sweetened condensed milk. Heat over low heat until chocolate is melted. Stir in 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of the reserved cherry juice.
-Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the topping over each cherry, spreading to cover the cherry. If frosting seems too thick, thin it with a little more cherry juice.
(I was worried that I read my original recipe wrong when it told me to put the frosting on BEFORE baking. I thought it would melt and run all over. But I did as it said and it is amazing! This super-silky chocolate frosting does not melt or run anywhere! It seals in the cherry beautifully!)
-Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, or until done. Remove to a wire rack to cool.