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Dark Chocolate Sour Cherry Cookies

The combination of dark chocolate*, sour cherries and almond is sophisticated and, dare I say, boldly seductive. These are chocolate cookies for grown-ups, and a single batch provides about 50 ways to tell someone they're special.

*While the recipe calls for dark (70%) chocolate, in a pinch, I make them with Bakers semi-sweet chocolate, which has about 57% cocoa according to this article and all the adjectives above still apply.

Servings 48 to 50 cookies
Author © Marlene Cornelis/UrbanCottageLife.com 2016–2021

Ingredients

  • 3 oz dark chocolate (70% cocao)
  • 1-1/4 cup flour
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup dried sour cherries
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp almond extract

How To Make This Recipe

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 ℉ and line one or more cookie sheets with parchment paper.

  2. In a heat-proof bowl over a small pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate. (You could also use a microwave at about 50% power for one minute at a time; stir after each interval until the choclated is melted.) Remove from heat and allow to cool somewhat.

  3. Place the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and stir together.
  4. Place the sour cherries in a small bowl, and toss them with a couple teaspoons of the flour mixture. Separate them with your fingers and toss again.
  5. Cream the butter until light, then blend in the sugar until fluffy, scraping down the bowl once. Mix in the egg and almond extract. Once incorporated, scrape the bowl, add the melted chocolate and blend well.
  6. Add the flour mixture and stir slowly until well-mixed, scraping down the bowl. Tumble the sour cherries into the batter and stir in. If using a stand mixer, just allow a few turns of the paddle, and then finish stirring by hand with a sturdy spatula until the cherries are well distributed. If you're using a hand-held mixer with standard metal beaters, stir the cherries in completely by hand to avoid breaking them up — we're going for big luscious bites.
  7. I use my 1-tablespoon ice cream scoop with built in scraper-release mechanism to form the batter, placing the delectable dollops on the parchment lined baking tray about 2 inches apart.
  8. Bake the cookies at 350℉ for 10 minutes (note: I use aluminum baking trays lined with parchment paper; if you use different pans, experiment with one or two cookies to determine the right baking time). Once done, I let the cookies stay on the tray for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove them to a cooking rack. The cookies spread out nicely into rounds about 2 inches in diameter, providing about 50 ways to say wow, you're special.