I’m still trying to use up ingredients in my pantry. This is, perhaps, a never-ending, always-losing, sort of battle, but I do think I am making headway! This recipe used up the bag of dried cherries, and I’ve not got too many niche ingredients left. Slowly but surely, my pantry will be at a good baseline. Only… two months into the year! And after I’ve got my pantry just stocked with essentials… I’ll just restart the process again and impulse buy ingredients to come up with more ideas. C’est la vie.
These are simple, but effective. Chocolate and cherry is never a miss, and brown butter rounds things out. It’s not complicated! I got those dried cherries a few months ago on a whim because I wanted to bake something with chocolate and cherry. I didn’t come up with anything elaborate, and they just sat there waiting for inspiration to strike. But did I need great inspiration to strike? No! Because sometimes simple just works.
I guess going forward, I ought to just get better about using up the ingredients I buy more expediently! Don’t let cherries sit around for months. Just come up with something and go!
Cheers to keeping it simple! If our dessert can’t be simple, what can?!
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PinIngredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
- 1/2 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 heaping cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
- 1/2 heaping cup dried cherries
Instructions
- Place half the butter (4 tablespoons) in a medium skillet. Melt the butter over medium heat, swirling it in the pan occasionally. It’ll foam and froth as it cooks, and start to crackle and pop. Once the crackling stops, keep a close eye on the melted butter, continuing to swirl the pan often. The butter will start to smell nutty, and brown bits will form in the bottom. Once the bits are amber brown (about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes or so after the sizzling stops), remove the butter from the burner and immediately pour it into a small bowl, bits and all. This will stop the butter from cooking and burning. Allow it to cool until absolutely room temperature. Speed this step up in the refrigerator, but don’t ignore this step.
- In a medium bowl combine softened butter, room temperature browned butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using an electric hand mixer, beat on medium speed until well incorporated, lightened in color, and fluffy – 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat on low speed for 1 minute, until well incorporated.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt to incorporate the leavening evenly through the flour. - Add the dry ingredients all at once to the butter and sugar mixture and beat on low speed or incorporate with a wooden spoon or spatula until no dry patches remain. Stir in the chocolate chips and cherries.
Portion out the cookies before refrigerating them, rolling dough into ~2 1/2 tablespoon balls, and store either in a Tupperware separated by parchment, or place them on a baking sheet and cover them with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for one hour, or overnight. - Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
- Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire to cool further before storing.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for as long as they last.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar*
- 1 large egg yolk
- Splash of vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- A handful of dried cherries
- A handful of chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it to the side.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter until browned. Remove from the heat and whisk in the brown sugar until it feels like the sugar has started to dissolve in the butter. If it feels like the butter is separating from the sugar, that’s ok – keep going. Whisk in the powdered sugar. This might feel like a clumpy mess, but I promise the lumps will whisk out.
- Whisk in the egg yolk and splash of vanilla until emulsified, smooth and glossy.
- Add flour, salt, and baking soda and stir with a spatula until no dry bits remain. Add the chocolate pieces and work quickly, because the chocolate will start to melt in the warm pan but honestly that’s alright because the melted chocolate makes for chocolate striped cookies. Fold the chocolate pieces and dried cherries throughout the dough and quickly dollop in two globs (of course you could do three or four globs) on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden around the edges and still slightly soft in the center. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes.