Black Forest Cookies
Double chocolate cookies with dried cherries and chunks. Pay close attention to the temperatures of the ingredients. The butter and egg mixture should be slightly cool and but not cold and the melted chocolate should be just slightly warm. If it's too cool, the batter will get too stiff.
Servings 20
Cost 5
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried cherries or cherry flavored cranberries (feel free to use more or less to taste)
- ⅓ to ½ cup cherry juice or water or enough to soak the cherries
- 4 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (114 grams)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (56 grams)
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar (75 grams)
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar, light or dark okay (50grams)
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup all-purpose flour or a gluten-free blend (70 grams)
- 1 tablespoon Dutch unsweetened cocoa powder (6 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt plus a small pinch
- 1 cup chocolate chunks or chocolate chips or chopped semisweet or dark chocolate
Instructions
- Soak the cherries for at least one hour or two (or overnight) in cherry juice or water.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate on high for 30 seconds; Stir well. Repeat until melted and smooth. If your microwave has lower power settings you can use 50% power and stir every 60 seconds. Set aside the melted chocolate aside to cool a little, but don't let it cool completely.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and both sugars until creamy and light, scraping the sides of the bowl often. Beat in the egg and vanilla, then beat in the just-slightly- warm melted chocolate. After adding the chocolate, beat in exactly 1 tablespoon of the cherry juice (or water) you used for soaking the cherries. Drain the rest.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
- Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture and stir until blended, then stir in the drained cherries and the chocolate chunks.
- If baking immedialy preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper
- Using a medium size cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough and arrange on baking sheets spacing 2 ½ inches apart. If baking later, arrange balls on a dinner plate lined with wax paper or plastic wrap. You can chill the dough until ready to bake. For very neat rounds, chill briefly then roll between your palms into very compact and smooth balls. Otherwise you can leave them rough.
- Bake one sheet at a time at 350 for about 12 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
If you skip soaking the cherries or use a different add-in other than soaked cherries, add 1 tablespoon of warm water or coffee after adding the eggs.
