Chocolate Cherry Cookies

I wanted brownies. The problem is I recently shattered my 8x8 inch pan and only had one lonely stick of butter. Many of my baking excursions begin this way, throttled by a lack of ingredients.


This recipe uses dried tart cherries, one of my new favorite ingredients. They are nature's fruit snacks, I find them in the bulk section of my local Sprouts. If you can't or don't desire to find them, you could use dried cranberries.

One of the most important steps is creaming the butter and sugars together. If your butter is melted, your cookies will fall flat. I've learned its best to cut a stick of butter into pieces and give it a very short blast in the microwave, about 10 seconds, and then let the kinetic energy of the mixer do the rest of the softening.

If your dough starts to stick to your hands when you are rolling it into balls before backing, put it in the freezer for a few minutes. This will also help your cookies to stay nice and thick. You may need to add 3-5 minutes to baking time if you do this, though.

These make delicious "breakfast desserts", 
one of my favorite times to eat dessert. 
I won't tell if you don't.




Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Makes: Approximately 3 dozen cookies, Total Time: 45 minutes

(Adapted from Simply Recipes)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup of brown sugar
• ¾ cup of white granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup of dried tart cherries, chopped if large

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cream the butter and sugars together at medium speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes.

Add the egg and the vanilla extract until well incorporated, about a minute, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add to the butter mixture and mix at medium speed just barely until incorporated. Mix in the chopped, dried cherries.

Take about a tablespoon of the dough and roll into one balls and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until edges are set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely after a few minutes.