Recipe: Dark chocolate and sour cherry cookies

You can't beat a homemade cookie. There's a purity of sweetness that comes with baking from scratch, although others might say it's the unmistakable addition of love.

These dark chocolate and sour cherry cookies aren't difficult to make, but they do involve pre-planning and patience, as the batter must be chilled before and after rolling them into balls for baking. These are based on a Bourke Street Bakery recipe, so you know they'll be rich and delicious.

I'm renowned for always baking double batches, usually driven by greed. In this case, I'm glad I did. These were a huge hit with everyone, and disappeared faster than I ever imagined among family, friends and workmates.

You can under-bake these for a soft and chewy cookie, or keep them in the oven longer for a crisper biscuit. I reckon you could also slap them around a generous wad of vanilla bean or chocolate ice cream for a decadent ice cream sandwich.




Dark chocolate and sour cherry cookies
Adapted from a recipe by Bourke Street Bakery

100g unsalted butter
200g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
150g (1 cup) plain flour
60g (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon salt
200g dark chocolate
120g dried sour cherries

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (160C for fan-forced)
2. Cream the butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until smooth and well combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl and then add to the butter mixture in three stages, beating well between each addition.
4. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt either in a double boiler or in the microwave. If using a microwave, heat on high in 30 seconds bursts, stirring with a spoon between each burst to distribute the heat in the chocolate.
5. Add the melted chocolate to the butter and flour mixture. Mix well and then add the sour cherries.
6. Chill the cookie dough for about 30 minutes or until the mixture is quite firm. Use a teaspoon to create truffle-sized balls of dough, rolling quickly between your hands so the ball is smooth and compact. Try and make sure there is at least one sour cherry in each ball.
7. Place the balls on a lined baking tray, making sure there is at least 3cm between each one, as the cookies will spread as they baked.
8. Chill each tray for about 30 minutes before baking.
9. Bake for 15 minutes for chewy cookies, or 20 minutes for crunchy ones. For extra soft cookies, remove the tray just before the cookies start to crack. The cookies will collapse and crack as they cool.

FREEBIE FRIDAY WINNERS

Congratulations to Jackie, Martyna, EJ, JPana and Deborah M who have each won a copy of the 2012 Eating and Drinking Sydney guide. Thank you everyone for all your entries and cheap eat favourites - you can check them out here.

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