Double Chocolate Chip Sour Cherry Cookies

Cocoa powder and chocolate chips give these Double Chocolate Chip Sour Cherry Cookies a real chocolatey punch, pow. Depending on how you like to bake them, they can be soft, cakey and chewy or crunchy and perfect for dipping in milk or coffee.

Coffee and orange zest are the secret ingredients in these cookies, the combination of chocolate and coffee is magical and really makes the flavor of the chocolate pop, you’ll never even notice the flavor of coffee. Decaffeinated coffee works just fine if that’s a concern. And orange zest adds a brightness to the sour cherries that make them stand out amongst all that intense chocolate flavor.

At the hotel, we used to use an enormous mixer for making cookies because we were making 40 pounds of dough at a time. At home, I always mix this by hand to prevent beating too much air into the dough. If there is air in the dough the cookie will balloon up like a soufflé in the oven, then deflate leaving the cookie flat as a pancake. So, take care not to incorporate too much air.

Here’s how I make them:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ½ Sticks Butter, softened
• 2/3 Cup Sugar
• 2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Finely Ground Coffee, decaffeinated is fine
• 2 Whole Eggs
• 2 ¼ Cups All-Purpose Flour, Sifted
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• ½ Cup Cocoa Powder, Sifted
• 1 Cup Chocolate Chips
• 1 Cup Dried Sour Cherries
• 1 Orange, zest, and juice

PROCESS:

-Roughly chop the dried sour cherries

-Zest the orange, add zest and juice to the dried sour cherries, microwave for one minute

-Mix together butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract using a spatula or wooden spoon until smooth, careful not to incorporate air into the mixture

-Add eggs and coffee, mix to incorporate

-Sift together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda

-Combine all, add to butter mixture

-Add sour cherries with all the juice and chocolate chips

-Combine until all ingredients are evenly dispersed throughout the dough

-Refrigerate

-Use an ice cream scoop to divide into uniform balls of dough

– Freeze extras

LET REST AT LEAST ONE HOUR BEFORE BAKING!

TO BAKE:

-Preheat oven to 350F

-Dough should be at refrigerator temperature, not frozen

-Bake 14-18 minutes

-I like mine a little under-baked at around 13-14 minutes so they are nice and gooey inside