Chocolate Cherry Cookies

A Sweet Treat for the Weekend

Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Cook's notes : The chocolate cherry combo is perfection! Everyone will love these decadent and divine cookies! Recipe makes 3 dozen cookies and adapted from twopeasandtheirpod.com  I cut back on both sugar amounts by 2 tablespoons.
Ingredients:

• 2- 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa
• 1/4 tsp. espresso powder
• 1/4 tsp. Saigon cinnamon
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar- minus 2 TB.
• 1 cup light brown sugar-minus 2 TB.
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chunks or semi-sweet chips
• 1 cup dried cherries

Directions: 

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, sea salt, espresso powder, cinnamon and cocoa. Set aside.
• With a mixer, cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time. Next, add in vanilla extract and mix until combined.
• Gradually add in  flour mixture and beat until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chunks or chips and dried cherries. Chill dough one hour or 20 minutes in the freezer. 
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough into 2 inch balls and place on prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Keep dough chilled until the next batch. 
• Bake cookies for 10 minutes, or until cookies are set, but still soft in the center. Don’t over bake. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 3 minutes. Move to a cooling rack and cool completely.
  

RAK Idea: Package cookies in Valentine bags and share with neighbors/friends/family.