Chewy Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies that melt in your mouth. Tons of dried cherries and gooey melted chocolate in every bite! Keep scrolling to check out how to make these little bundles of joy!
How To Make Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
First, let’s talk about ingredients!
This recipe is a little different than other cookie recipes. Usually a cookie recipe calls for melted or softened butter. But, noooo. This recipe calls for cold, cubed butter. Yes, take that butter right out of the fridge and it’s ready to go for this recipe.
A key ingredient in these cherry chocolate chunk cookies is CHERRIES! I used these dried Montgomery cherries from Cherry Republic, but you can use whatever dried cherries you can find at the grocery store.
Another star ingredient in this lineup is the chocolate. You will need baking chocolate. It is the kind you will find in bars in the baking aisle. Semi-sweet is the best for this recipe. But dark or even milk chocolate would pair nicely, it’s all up to you.
If you don’t know what caster sugar is, well let me introduce you. It’s an ultra-fine sugar. Think in between granulated and powdered sugar. It gives these cookies a nice and soft texture. Granulated sugar can be used as a substitute.
Lastly, there is almond extract in this recipe. WHY? Well, almond and cherry flavors and basically cousins. The flavors go very well together. Try my Cherry Chip Cake with Almond Buttercream and you will taste why!
Now let’s talk about how to make these cookies. This method is kind of the reverse method to making normal cookies. First cream together butter and sugars, then add in cherries and chocolate, then mix in dry ingredients until the texture of the dough is a dry and crumbly consistency (shown in the picture above.) Next mix in eggs and extracts just until combined.
Scoop dough with an ice-cream scoop onto a parchment lined baking tray that will fit into the freezer. Freeze dough for at least one hour (ideally overnight.)
Preheat oven to 355°F and take cookies out of the freezer. Bake cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 22-24 minutes or until light golden brown on bottom. Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough and enjoy!
Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks or 230g) cold unsalted butter cubed
- ⅔ cup (135g) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup (135g) packed light brown sugar
- 1½ cups (200g) dried cherries
- 8 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate chopped
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp (10g) baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
- With a large bowl and hand mixer or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat cubed butter and both caster sugar (or granulated sugar) and light brown sugar on low speed until small clumps form.
- Add cherries and chocolate to the sugar mixture and mix until combined. (About 15 seconds.) Make sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula when needed.
- With the mixer on low, add dry ingredients and combine until the mixture is a dry and crumbly consistency. (See photo in blog post for reference.)
- In a small bowl beat together eggs, vanilla, and almond extracts and add to the mixture. Mix just until a dough starts to form.
- Scoop dough with an ice-cream scoop onto a parchment lined baking tray that will fit into the freezer. Freeze dough for at least one hour (ideally overnight.)
- Preheat oven to 355°F and take cookies out of the freezer. Bake cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 22-24 minutes or until light golden brown on bottom. Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough and enjoy!