Happy New Year!! Today’s Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies are the perfect sweet treat to kick off 2024! Chocolate and cherry is a classic combination you will find in many desserts. I love the blending of sweet and tart, waking up our taste buds in every bite!
I like to use a blend of different chocolate chips in my cookies. You can use whatever you have in your pantry, those that you prefer. All varieties will work!
Dried cherries
If you can’t find dried cherries, I like to use sweetened dried cranberries. They are similar to cherries in texture and flavor and readily available in grocery stores.
If you want to use a different fruit, go right ahead. Just try to chop them to about the size of the dried cherries. Apricots, figs, peaches, apples, mango, dates, etc. would all be delicious.
When you are baking with dried fruits, it is a good idea to rehydrate them in boiling water to soften them. This is called macerating**. Your baked goods will be better tasting and more supple. Simply place your fruit in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them soak until puffed up a bit, drain, and pat dry before adding them to your dough. You will love them!
You can also macerate in a combination of water and liquor.*** Heat the water and add the liquor to it – don’t try to heat the alcohol on its own or you may start a fire. Hot alcohol is very flammable. Diluting it in water helps protect you. Bourbon and rum are my personal favorites to use, but you can use whatever liquor you like best.
If you forget to macerate the fruit, don’t worry. The cookies will still be good!
Be sure to use a cookie scoop, preferably one with a sweeping arm inside the bowl of the scoop (see recommended tools below). This gives you perfectly symmetrical balls of dough that will bake in the same amount of time and come out nearly identical. This is how the pros always have the best looking cookies!
Give these Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies a try and give your family and guests a treat. Simple to make, they will disappear quickly on any dessert buffet or as an after-school snack. Have a wonderful New Year’s celebration and I hope 2024 is your best year ever, filled with joy and fun, delicious adventures!
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a star rating, comment below, and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag it #theheritagecook on Instagram! Seeing your creations makes my day. I love hearing from you!
Ingredients needed for Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- Dried cherries or sweetened cranberries, gluten-free flour blend
- Baking soda, salt, butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg
- Vanilla, semisweet and milk or white chocolate chips
PRO Tip:
Macerating dried fruit reconstitutes it in liquid making each piece soft and succulent. You can use water or your choice of liquor*** if you prefer. I tend to use bourbon or rum. If you use liquor, be sure to add some to a bowl of very hot water to dilute it – do not heat the alcohol itself, or you risk having a fire in your kitchen!
How to make Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- Macerate the cherries or cranberries by covering them with boiling water, setting them aside to rehydrate. When soft, drain and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- Using a mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together until fluffy, then scrape the bowl and beater. Add the egg and vanilla, beating until well combined. Slowly mix in the flour mixture, scraping the bowl as needed. Then stir in the cherries and chocolate chips.
- Rest the dough, preferably in the refrigerator, for at least 1 hour to help keep the cookies from spreading too much.
- Using a cookie scoop, drop the dough in even rounds at least 1-inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 350°F (177°C) for 9 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and the middle is set. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack too cool completely.
PRO Tip:
Using a cookie scoop speeds up the portioning of your cookie dough, makes sure all the cookies are the same size and bake at the same rate. In my opinion they are worth the expense and you might want to get a couple sizes for variety.
PRO Tip:
I used a small scoop to make 2-inch cookies. It is a #60, about 2 tsp capacity. If you want larger cookies use a larger scoop and increase your baking time. Do a test run with just a couple of cookies to figure out how long to bake them to get the texture and color you want in your specific oven.
Recommended Tools (affiliate links; no extra cost to you):
- Kitchen scale
- Baking sheet pans
- Parchment paper sheets
- Mixing bowls
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Cookie scoop
- Cooling rack
Gluten-Free Tips:
*You can adjust any baking recipe to gluten-free by using 120 grams per cup of my favorite gluten-free flour blend. If you are using another brand of gluten-free flour, whisk the mix, spoon it lightly into a measuring cup until mounded, level off the top with the back of a knife, and weigh the flour left in the cup. Use that weight as your standard per cup of that specific flour. Do this for each flour blend you use. Commercial blends such as Pamela’s All-Purpose Artisan Blend, Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1, or King Arthur Measure for Measure are all good choices.
** The major gluten-free organizations have declared that distilled alcohols are gluten free. But some distillers may add caramel coloring or flavorings which sometimes contain gluten. For some very sensitive people this may cause issues. If you are making this cake for a very reactive person, or if they have Celiac disease, you can use potato vodka mixed with two teaspoons brown sugar in place of the liquor called for.
All recommended ingredients are gluten-free as of the writing of this article. Always check to be sure the products haven’t changed and are still safe to consume.
Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free)
I am always happy to make a new recipe that is easy and fast to prepare and today’s Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies are the
perfect sweet treat! Chocolate and cherry is a classic combination you will find in many desserts, like a Black Forest Cake. I love the blending of sweet and tart, waking up our taste buds in every bite!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dried cherries or sweetened cranberries
- Boiling water or water mixed with liquor of your choice***
- 1-1/2 cup (180g)* gluten-free flour blend or regular all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg (50g), at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170g) semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup (85g) milk or white chocolate chips (or more semisweet)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the dried cherries or cranberries in a small heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water and set aside to rehydrate. When soft, drain and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl if using a hand mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the egg and vanilla, beating until well combined. Slowly add the flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in the cherries and chocolate chips.
- For best results, rest the dough for at least 1 hour, preferably in the refrigerator. This is not required but will help fully hydrate the flour and give you better results, especially in gluten-free baking.
- Using a small cookie scoop, drop the dough in rounds at least one inch apart on the parchment-lined baking sheet pan.
- Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and the middle is set. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before carefully transferring them to a cooling rack.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Recipe found at www.theheritagecook.com
Notes
*You can adjust any recipe to gluten-free by using 120 grams per cup of my favorite gluten-free flour blend. If you are using another brand of gluten-free flour, whisk the mix, spoon it lightly into a measuring cup without a spout until mounded, level off the top with the back of a knife, and weigh the flour left in the cup. Use that weight as your standard per cup of that specific flour. Do this for each flour blend you use. Commercial blends such as Pamela's, Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1, or King Arthur Measure for Measure are all good choices.
**Macerating dried fruit reconstitutes it in liquid making each piece soft and succulent. You can use water or your choice of liquor*** if you prefer. I tend to use bourbon or rum. If you use liquor, be sure to pour it into some hot water to dilute it! Never heat the liquor itself to be safe, it is very flammable.
*** The major gluten-free organizations have declared that distilled alcohols are gluten free. But some distillers may use caramel coloring or flavorings which sometimes contain gluten. For some very sensitive people this may cause issues. If you are making this cake for a very reactive person or if they have Celiac disease, you can use potato vodka mixed with two teaspoons brown sugar in place of the liquor if you are using it to macerate the dried fruits.
All recommended ingredients are gluten-free as of the writing of this article. Always check to be sure the products haven’t changed and are still safe to
consume.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
48Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 47Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 42mgCarbohydrates: 9gFiber: 0gSugar: 2gProtein: 1g
The nutritional information for recipes on this site is calculated by online tools and is merely an estimate.
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