Cherries Garcia Chocolate Cookies

I am sure i will need to change the name if I ever use this recipe in a cook book, but these cookies do taste like the Cherry Garcia Chocolate ice cream.

I came up with this recipe about 3 years ago on my quest to make a great chocolate sugar cookie.

These cookies are best warm from the oven with a cold glass of milk.

Cherries Garcia Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups of Green & Black Cocoa Powder
4 3.5 oz bars of Green & Blacks 85% Dark Chocolate Bars
1 3/4 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 cups raw sugar
3/4 cups of organic dark brown sugar
2 cups of dried cherries
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Place chocolate bars and 1/8 cup of raw sugar in food processor and pulse to chop into a small bits.
In a bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
In a large stand mixer cream together the butter and the remaining sugars until fluffy. Next cream in the eggs and vanilla. Turning the mixer to low, slowly add in the flour mixture, once all combined turn off mixer: you do not want to over mix the dough, it will get tough. Remove bowl from mixer and with a spoon folded in the chopped chocolate and then the cherries.
Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill overnight.

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
Using your hands roll into about 1 1/2 inch ball, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, flatten slightly to prevent rolling. Place balls about 4 inches apart. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or so: until they puff up and crack. Remove from oven and with the same quick motion as before with the other cookies, remove the parchment and the cookies onto a cooling rack. You will get very good at this in time. The reason is that the cookies keep cooking on the hot cookie sheet.

Note: the baking time depends on your oven, you want the cookies moist but not mush, but then again you do not want them dry either. I have baked these cookies for as little as 9 minutes or as long as 14 minutes, it all depends, but 10 to 11 minutes should be fine.
Also keep the dough chilled until ready to bake: roll enough cookies at a time then bake. You do not want them to sit at room temp for any great lengths of time.

Enjoy Cooking