Salted Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Trail Mix and Recipe Attribution

The story behind these salted dark chocolate cherry cookies is actually a little funny.  First, I need to disclose that I created this recipe just like all of my other ones.  I recognize the importance of attributing credit to other bakers for adaptations and inspirations and do my best to disclose that information.  However, baking is a funny world in that two bakers are bound to come up with the same recipe without knowing each other.  Now begins my story.

Recipe Attribution

I was on break at my internship this week and I was thinking of different flavor combinations for cookies.  Suddenly, the idea of salted dark chocolate cherry cookies popped into my head, and I proceeded to pencil in a recipe in my baking journal.  A couple days later, I tried out the recipe and the cookies were sooo good!  I then began to wonder how many other bakers had generated a similar recipe, so I Googled it.  It turns out that one of my favorite blogs, Two Peas and a Pod, had posted a chocolate cherry cookie recipe as well, so I clicked on it to see what they included in their recipe.  To my surprise and a bit of horror, their recipe was almost identical to the one I had created!

I say horror because as a new blogger, I am highly conscientious of recipe attribution.  One of the last things I want is for my readers to think I am inauthentic and steal recipes from other bloggers.  Baking is such a big world that two cooks are likely to create the same or a highly similar recipe.  You can have confidence when reading my blog that if I truly received inspiration from another source or adapted another recipe in any way, that I will give credit where credit is due.  If I do not attribute the recipe to another baker, it is because I genuinely created the recipe from my own imagination.  However, if you notice that one of my unattributed recipes is highly similar to another blogger’s, please comment and I will be more than happy to explain and edit my post to say that another baker generated a very similar recipe.

The Actual Inspiration

The actual inspiration for these cookies came from a trail mix I get from Trader Joe’s.  It’s the Happy Trekking Trail Mix and it has dark chocolate, dried cherries, pistachios, and cashews in it.  It’s so delicious.  The only problem is that it isn’t sold in the individual snack sized bags.  This makes it dangerous if you have poor self-control.  I have to portion it out otherwise I will absentmindedly eat almost the whole bag haha.

I was initially contemplating making these cookies with dark cocoa powder.  However, I only had regular unsweetened cocoa powder at home and didn’t particularly want to make a second trip to the store.  I’m glad I didn’t because these cookies are so unbelievably rich, I think dark cocoa powder would have been overkill.  The cookie dough also ended up being very dense, so I added a couple Tablespoons of milk to add some moisture back into the dough which seemed to do the trick.

I’ll let you in on a little secret.  If you want to make your cookies look extra pretty, gently press a couple chocolate chips onto the tops of them when they come out of the oven.  They will maintain their shape but become nice and gooey-looking.

I hope you enjoy these incredibly decadent cookies whether you eat the dough or a cookie straight from the oven.  Be sure to enjoy it with a tall glass of milk.  You’ll need it for these cookies, trust me.

Salted Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Serves 24

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup dried cherries or cranberries
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Grease or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium-low speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and add vanilla.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients and add the milk.
6. Stir in dark chocolate chips and dried cherries or cranberries.
7. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about an hour.*
8. Drop two Tablespoons-worth of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet.  Take a pinch of sea salt and sprinkle on the tops of the cookie dough mounds.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.

For more delicious cookies, check out my bacon bourbon chocolate chip cookies!

*You can omit this step if you would like.  However, I often find that my cookies are less flat if I chill the dough first.  I must confess though, I am often lazy and just stick them in the oven.

*Two Peas and a Pod has a very similar recipe.  However, the inspiration and recipe generation were indeed my own.