My dad is a big fan of the combination of chocolate and cherry — he never passes up a scoop of Cherry Garcia ice cream and loves a good boozy cherry cordial candy. One of my earliest memories of being in the kitchen is making homemade chocolate-covered cherries for my dad as a Valentine’s Day gift, so this chocolate chunk cookie studded with chewy dried cherries is a bit of a nod to him as we approach the holiday of love again this week!
The flavors of chocolate and cherry are a no-brainer, so the real test in creating this treat was finding the right balance of ingredients and the right texture for the cookie. I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity cookie consumer — I don’t subscribe to one kind of cookie over another. Sometimes a doughy and soft cookie is the answer to the day’s problems, and sometimes you need a satisfying crunch to your cookie.
For this one though, a flatter and chewier cookie was in order! The chewiness of the cookie plays nicely with the almost gummy dried cherries and the pockets of melty chocolate. Plus, I always feel like my two favorite elements of a cookie — butter and brown sugar — really shine in a cookie like this.
Resist the temptation to buy sweetened dried cherries for this recipe — even if they taste a little tart before you add them to your dough, the natural sugar in the cherries will get a little bit sweeter when baked and keeping the added sugar to a minimum helps to balance the sweetness level.
Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
2 sticks (16 T) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 T vanilla extract
2 c. chocolate chunks
1 3/4 c. dried unsweetened cherries
Instructions
Add the flour, baking soda and salt to a medium bowl, whisking to combine.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Using the paddle attachment (or with an electric hand mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer), cream together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until well-incorporated, light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
Turn the mixer to medium-low speed and add eggs one at a time, waiting until the first is incorporated before adding the second. Add the vanilla.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, add the chocolate chunks and dried cherries, and mix by hand with a wooden spoon until well-distributed. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes before baking.
Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and drop golf ball-sized rounds of dough onto the sheets, leaving at least 1-inch in between. Using the bottom of a drinking glass, slightly flatten the dough rounds.
Bake cookies for 14-16 minutes until golden brown around the edges and set in the center. Store additional dough in the refrigerator until it is time to bake.
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