This week's SMS recipe, Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies, was chosen by Megan from My Baking Adventures. Chocolate and dried fruit... what's not to love? Thanks for choosing this recipe, Megan!! Check out the recipe for these yummy cookies here.
Last step of the cookie dough making processUnfortunately, I didn't have any dried cherries so I substituted craisins (sweetened dried cranberries). As the name implies, they're dried and therefore have a tendency to absorb moisture. In this case, steal moisture from the cookie. To prevent this, I like to soak dried fruit in a little bit of hot water or juice. Today, I soaked the craisins in a mixture of hot water and orange juice. This process will also help prevent the craisins from drying out in the oven.
Nice and round, thanks to the empty paper towel roll "trick"The other change I made is reduce the baking soda and add baking powder. I find that too much baking soda leaves an off-flavor in baked goods. The last change I made is use semi-sweet chocolate chips as well as white chocolate chips (50/50) because I like cranberries and white chocolate. These were "real" white chocolate chips by Callebaut, meaning they contain cocoa butter, not some vegetable oil.
One dozen pieces of delicious chocolaty goodness
Freshly baked cookies and a pretty pink rose from my gardenFinal thoughts/tips:
- Hubby and I liked the cookies, but I liked them a bit more than he did. Hubby found the cookie to be a bit too chocolaty. He also would have liked more craisins. His rating: 7.5 out of 10. I enjoyed the cookie a lot. Chocolaty goodness with a crispy edge, chewy craisins and a soft center. I ate the cookies about 1.5 hours after they came out of the oven. The chocolate chips were still melty and delicious.
- I baked a dozen cookies and froze the second log for another time.
- Baking time: 6 minutes, turn cookie sheet 180 degrees, 7 more minutes.
- Modified leavening: 3/4 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder.
- Always plump up your dried fruit before adding them to your dough or batter to prevent them from stealing moisture from your baked goods.
- I remembered to use an empty paper towel roll this time. This kept the log of dough nice and round.
- Don't forget to check out the blogroll and see how other SMS bakers liked this cookie.
Yum!
Wow! You certainly were a wealth of information today! I skipped the log and went straight for the scoop and bake method - but the paper towel trick sounds like it would work perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you like these - and craisins in orange juice definitely made these spectacular.
I used cranisins too; they made it pretty good.
ReplyDeleteBut great advice with the paper towel trick, I'll make sure to keep that in mind next time.
Baking a wedding cake certainly is a good excuse for missing last week's SMS, glad it turned out nice and that everyone enjoyed it. Your chocolate cookies look great and so does the rose from your garden!
ReplyDeleteI love how your cookies spread slightly, yum!
ReplyDeleteKatie xox
Your cookies look perfect. I must say that I look forward to seeing the photos of the wedding cake you made! That's wonderful. I keep trying to remember to hang onto the empty paper towel rolls, but I never do. Fabulous job!
ReplyDeleteUsing the paper towel rool trick - your cookies look perfect! I went for the scoop and bake and mine didnt turn out so round -- more like clumpy & chunky looking.
ReplyDeleteI am very lucky to have tasted these wonderful, chewy, chocolate haven cookies that Hanaa made and brought to work. Yummy!!! Perfect rounds, beautiful color from the cranberries and white chocolate chips. Intense choco flavor, not overly sweet. A perfect get-goer for the afternoon
ReplyDeleteYour cookies look delicious! The craisin plumping method sounds tasty too, I'll have to give it a try...
ReplyDeleteHello my dear!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry for my belated comment... I just read your lovely email (what a great way to start my day) and I felt terrible when I realized I never gave you some well deserved compliments for your SMS double chocolate cookies. Mmmm, your cookies look decadent! Fantastic idea to add white chocolate- I agree, it's a perfect match for the dried cranberries (when I'm feeling like switchin' it up a bit with my oatmeal cookies, I add white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and some orange zest- a bright and refreshing combination!) Where did you find those "real" white choc chips? Pretty much all my local markets carry for high quality chocolate is Ghiradelli, but I've heard a lot about Callebaut... maybe some day I'll come across it and snatch some up :) Will you be making this week's SMS recipe- I'm fortunate enough to have an ice cream maker, so I'll be giving it a try, but I know many people won't be able to participate because of lack of equipment. Either way, I'm sure we'll be talking!
Can't wait to see the baby shower cake pictures. I'm wondering where you picked up your mad piping skills? I wish you were closer, so you could teach me how to make my cakes as beautiful as yours! If you ever plan a trip to Boston, I hope you'll consider stopping by my kitchen! You have an open invitation!
Hope to talk soon, and have happy 4th tomorrow!
-Joy