Chewy Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

I have had the Baked cookbook from the so-named funky bakery in Brooklyn kicking around my place for a really long time. It has been much ogled, but never used. The recipes are modern twists on classics, like Almond Green Tea Cupcakes, Pumpkin Whoopie Pies and Milk Chocolate Malt Ball Cake.

In the midst of a must-have-chocolate-immediately-or-someone-will-get-hurt moment I decided to take their Black Forest Cookies for a spin. The recipe calls for a pound of chocolate. A whole pound. I had just bought a pound of chocolate, really good dark chocolate, but didn’t want to invest the entire block in a recipe I hadn’t tried before. And holy mother I’m glad I didn’t – not because the cookies weren’t insanely delicious, but because it made so darn many!

These are unique chocolate cookies – much different from a cocoa based cookie. They only have a fraction of the flour you would expect to see, and consist mostly of eggs, sugar and melted chocolate whipped together. Like mousse. You have no idea what kind of self-control it took to actually bake these puppies, the batter was delicious…

Because of their mousse-like consistency, chilling them is not an option, it is a requirement. Otherwise they would run and flatten into one giant paper-thin cookie in the oven. The recipe calls for them to hang out in the fridge overnight, but I made them on a whim, and my whims know no waiting. So rather than slowly eating the batter by the spoonful until overnight was over and there was nothing left to bake, I took a risk and let the batter chill in the freezer for about an hour instead. Lo and behold, it worked! Thank heaven – with the ten bucks worth of top quality chocolate in there, tears, and maybe blood, would have been shed.

The cookies bake up shiny with cracked surfaces, crispy and meringue-like at the edges and very fudgy and chewy in the centres. Bite into one and you might be lucky enough to strike a chunk of chocolate and a tart, dried cherry in the same mouthful. Cue heavenly choir.

As an aside, if you haven’t done it already, go enter to win the super cute Pi Pie necklace here before Pi Day arrives on 3.14 and the opportunity is missed!

Chewy Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Adapted from Black Forest Chocolate Cookies in the Baked cookbook. The recipe calls for half semisweet and white chocolate chips to be used, but I just used 2 cups of semisweet… it’s your preference. Also, this is the full recipe, but it works halved and produced 2 dozen cookies for me with a half-batch (even though the original recipe says the full batch makes the same amount).

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 16 oz dark chocolate (60-72% cocoa), coarsely chopped

• 10 tbsp (5 oz) butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

• 6 large eggs

• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

• 1 cup (6 oz) white chocolate chips

• 1 cup dried cherries

1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. Melt chocolate with butter, either by placing in a bowl over a simmering pot of water, or in the microwave on 50% power in 30 second intervals.

2. In the large bowl of a standing mixer, whisk together eggs and sugar on high speed until mixture is pale and thick, about 5 minutes. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Gently fold in the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips (if using), and dried cherries. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. (Or chill in the freezer for about 1 hour).

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (this is important – the cookies will stick!). Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart. (If you used the “freezer method”, chill the pan in the freezer again at this stage for another 5 minutes or so until the dough firms up again). Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the set and the tops have a few cracks. Let cool slightly on pans before removing.

Last Updated on March 12, 2011 by Jennifer Pallian BSc, RD