Cherry-Chocolate Crinkles, woo hoo!!!

Rejoice, 

all you 

chocolate-covered cherry lovers!

These cookies are bursting with bits of cherries and chocolate ~ these are the ultimate Christmas cookie to me, and most likely Bubba too!  

Cherry jam and bits of chocolate combine here for a fabulous delicious little cookie.  The color is pretty, mostly due to the jam, but also a little added food coloring.  
The recipe includes chopped dried cherries.  I have a difficult time finding them in the grocery store, so I order Montmorency Dried Cherries from Cherry Republic, they’re great, good-sized and packed with flavor.

Bill kindly chops the chocolate for me.  Use good chocolate; I buy Baking Bars of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate, Baker’s Semi-Sweet Baking Bars works well also.

After several years of making these cookies, Bill found this to be the best way for chopping the bars:  Place chocolate on a cutting board, use a butcher knife to chop while holding a paper towel over the chocolate.  Chop chocolate into bits, a little smaller than a chocolate chip would be.  The chocolate will fly everywhere, hence the paper towel covering it.

Baked!

These are the best cookies with a little surprise ~ looking at them, you don't notice any chocolate in them until you take your first bite ~ that's the delicious surprise, chocolate bits!

Whether alone, or with a cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of milk, you will have a tasty good cookie to enjoy.   I make them at Christmas, but they'd be perfect for a Valentine's Day treat also.  We could eat them any time...

 

CHERRY-CHOCOLATE CRINKLES

Printable recipe

Ingredients:

1¾ cups flour 

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
⅓ cup cherry jam or preserves
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
¼ teaspoon cherry extract, optional
1 teaspoon red food coloring
½ cup finely chopped semisweet chocolate (about 3 ounces)
⅓ cup dried cherries, roughly chopped
½ cup confectioners’ sugar

Method:

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat butter, ½ cup granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl with mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in the egg, then beat in the jam, extracts and food coloring.
Reduce mixer to low speed and beat in flour mixture until combined.
Fold in the chocolate and dried cherries with a wooden spoon.
Cover the dough and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour, or overnight.
Position oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Put the remaining ½ cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl and sift confectioners’ sugar into a separate bowl.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, roll each ball in granulated sugar, and then the confectioners’ sugar, shake off any excess.*
Arrange 2” apart on the parchment-lined cookie sheets.
Bake until the cookies are cracked and dry on top, about 15 minutes.
Let cool 3 minutes on the pans, then transfer to racks to completely cool.
Makes about 30

*I use a 1-inch cookie scoop



Enjoy!