These Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies are the perfect combination of sweet cherry flavor with the creamy dark chocolate! Pair that with a chewy cookie and you have the most delicious spring cookie! Plus, my favorite secret ingredient to making these cookies pop with flavor!
Why You’ll Love…
I love a chocolate covered cherry; it’s basically my go-to treat whenever I’m at a chocolate shop! Something about the sweet cherry paired with the dark chocolate is just a match made in heaven! I almost think it’s more perfect than a chocolate covered strawberry… These Chocolate Cherry Almond cookies are a spin on the classic chocolate chip cookies but with tart cherries and a sweet almond flavor!
Fresh or Frozen Cherries
For this recipe, I like to use frozen cherries because it makes it easier to make this recipe year round! However, if you are making this during a season of fresh cherries, I recommend using those!
Since we’re using frozen cherries with this recipe, I have a few tips and tricks for working with frozen fruit in cookies!
- Make sure you cut the fruit and add it to the cookie dough right before you bake the cookies! You don’t want to let this dough set for awhile and let the cherries thaw and release extra moisture into the cookie dough!
- Because of the extra liquid from the cherries, this is a more crumbly dough! It helps prevent spreading! Be sure to check out my blog post about the correct way to measure flour to prevent adding too much!
- If you’re worried about the cherries being too juicy, you can always use some paper towels to absorb the extra moisture!
I don’t recommend using maraschino cherries in this recipe! They have too much moisture and are very sweet in this cookie! You can also substitute in tart dried cherries as well!
Types of Chocolate
For this recipe, I love the combination of the dark chocolate with the tart cherries! It’s the perfect balance of sweetness without being too much! The options of chocolate are endless so here’s a few options to use in this recipe!
Chocolate Chips – A classic for a reason, these are always super easy to toss into a recipe! From milk chocolate to semi-sweet chocolate chips, you have a lot of options to pick from! I recommend using either semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, since milk chocolate can be a bit too sweet! Unless you have a strong sweet tooth and prefer sweeter desserts!
Chocolate Bars – While these do require the extra step of chopping the chocolate, I do love the variety of shapes this adds to the cookies! This has large pieces that melt perfectly combining with tiny chocolate shards that dissolve into the cookies! I really like adding chopped chocolate bars if I want to be really fancy!
Equipment Needed:
Large Bowl – This is the perfect thing for mixing everything together and making sure you reach the bottom of the flour on the bowl!
Hand Mixer – I prefer using an electric mixer to make sure everything is fully mixed together! You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment!
Cookie Scoop – I like to use a smaller cookie scoop with this recipe as it helps the cookies spread less!
Parchment Paper – Aways a must when I’m baking cookies! We don’t want any cookies sticking to the sheet tray!!
Cookie Sheet – I recommend using a large baking sheet/cookie sheet because these cookies do tend to spread in the oven!
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Ingredient List:
See Recipe Card for Full Details
Step by Step Instructions:
Step 1. In a large bowl, combine butter with sugar and brown sugar and mix together.
Step 2. Then add in one large egg, with vanilla extract and a few drops of almond extract.
Step 3: Then add in the dry ingredients.
Step 4. Mix in chocolate chunks and chopped cherries before scooping onto prepared baking sheets.
Storage Instructions:
To store these cookies, store in an airtight container for about 3-4 days at room temperature! If you’re going to freeze them, scoop cookie dough balls onto a sheet pan and place in the freezer until hard. Then store in an airtight freezer bag for both 3 months! When you’re ready to bake, let thaw at room temperature for about 20 minutes before baking!
Helpful Tips and Tricks
These cookies do spread in the oven, so be sure to leave about 2-3 inches of space in between them! If they spread too much, you can use a round cookie cutter and gently nudge them back into place!
If you don’t like almond flavor, you can leave it out! I like that it enhances the cherry flavor, but you don’t have to add it!
These Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies are truly one of my favorite cookie recipes! The flavor combination of the sweet but slightly tart cherries with the dark chocolate and hint of almond is so delicious! It’s the perfect cookie for springtime! I hope you love these as much as I do!
Cheers!
-Holly Michelle
Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Equipment
- 2 oz Cookie Scoop
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 1 stick Butter
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar packed
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/8 teaspoon Almond Extract
- 1 1/2 cups Flour** plus 2 tablespoons
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 cup Dark Chocolate chopped
- 1/4 cup Frozen Cherries chopped into small pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix until everything is smooth and creamy.1 stick Butter, 1/2 cup Sugar, 1/2 cup Brown Sugar packed
- Add in one egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix together.1 Egg, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 1/8 teaspoon Almond Extract
- Then, add in flour and baking powder. On a low speed, mix all the dry ingredients to the dough.1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder, 1 1/2 cups Flour**
- Chop chocolate to small pieces, then add to the dough and stir together with a spatula, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get everything mixed together.1/2 cup Dark Chocolate chopped
- Take the cherries right out of the freezer*, chop into small pieces, then add to the dough. Stir once or twice until the cherries are just combined**.1/4 cup Frozen Cherries
- Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop out the cookie dough and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for about 12-14 minutes, the centers will still be slightly gooey.
- Let cool slightly, and enjoy!
Cookies came out very tasty!!! However, when I first tried recipe the dough did not form. It says 1 stick of butter- but I think it is supposed to be 2 sticks! I tried again with 2 and it came out perfectly. It yielded 14 cookies for me.
Super tasty, but something is off in the measurements. The dough is very dry and dense and when cooked there was no spread and they were quite underdone even at the recommended full amount of time (14 minutes). If I was to make them again I’d do less flour, or another egg
Hi Colleen!! Sorry that happened, although I’m glad to hear they still tasted good! I’ll make a note about the measurements! After testing these cookies a few times, I found that more flour helped my cookies stay together, but I’ll put a note to reduce the flour! Thanks for being here!
I was so incredibly disappointed by this recipe; i made one batch of dough and figured i had messed up because it was so dry. I made another and it was just as dry, so i figured moisture from the cherries would help. The cookies were inedible. I’d recommend reworking this recipe
I’m so sorry to hear that! Dry cookies are the worst! I’ll take a look at the recipe, but I did write a blog post about how to fix cookie dough that is too crumbly and the issue could be too much flour! Hope this helps!
https://thelittlehollythatcould.com/how-to-measure-flour-the-right-way-for-baking-recipes/