Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Soft chocolate chip cookies with fresh cherries! These delicate cookies use both cherry juice and chopped fresh cherries for a lovely hint of cherry flavor, which combines perfectly with the chocolate chips! This will be a favorite new go-to every cherry season.
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I can’t believe Brooklyn is now 6 months old! My how things have changed. She’s currently in one of those hold-me-all-the-time phases, so the crying has amped up. However, it coincided with her getting four vaccines on Friday, so I’m guessing it’ll subside pretty soon.
Normally, she’s pretty smiley and chill.
So, so different from the colicky, screaming babe I painstakingly held/rocked/bounced/wore/tolerated during my maternity leave.
Instead, she’s now smart enough to figure out cause and effect—she cries or whines loud enough and she gets picked up. I mean, I can’t blame her for working the system.
So, happy half-dozen, you cunning little love bug!
Why this recipe works
Like any sane person, my base recipe is and always will be Nestle Tollhouse. However, I always tend to tweak it slightly depending on what I’m doing. (Basically, I’m well on my way to living my life as a Friends character.)
Since I wanted to add both cherry juice and chopped fresh cherries, I reduced the butter and increased the flour slightly. One key is to chop the cherries as small as (or smaller than) the chocolate chips, strain some of the juice, then dry them well. This way you have more control over how much liquid you are adding.
Another fun change I made was using pink gel food coloring. It’s entirely optional, but I wanted to give it a try and loved the result. The key is to use a light pink and to add it to the butter before the flour is added, to avoid over mixing. Using a lighter pink is ideal, as the cookies darken slightly during baking, and you don’t want a super dark brown-ish red.
Key ingredients
Flour. Be sure to spoon then level your flour or you will have too much and will end up with dry, dense cookies.
Baking soda. Be sure it is fresh—not open for longer than 6 months (it will lose potency after that, regardless of the listed expiration date).
Salt. I prefer sea salt in my cookies, but table salt works, too.
Unsalted butter. Use European style butter, as it has less water and is needed to make these have the perfect texture.
Brown sugar/sugar. Don’t be tempted to increase the sugar, as it turns to liquid when baking and will make the cookies go flat.
Eggs. Be sure your eggs are fresh and room temperature.
Vanilla. Use pure vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste).
Chocolate chips. Measure with your heart, my friend! I wrote the recipe with the typical two cups, but I usually use closer to three. Don’t go beyond that, or the cookies won’t hold together.
Fresh cherries. I can’t vouch for frozen, as the flavor can change in defrosting. If you did use frozen, you’d need to defrost them. Maraschino cherries are also a great option, but they are sweeter, so be careful to squeeze them fully dry.
How to make cherry chocolate chip cookies
1. Chop, strain, and dry your cherries. Obviously, pitting first is easier. I used a fine mesh sieve to strain some juice out of the chopped cherries before squeezing the cherries dry with a paper towel.
2. Sift and whisk dry ingredients. Sifting is technically optional, but I think it helps prevent over mixing.
3. Beat butter and sugar. You want the sugar slightly dissolved and the mixture to be light and fluffy, so mix at least 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and vanilla, one at a time. Beat until well-blended each time, about 30 seconds on medium.
Optional: Mix in a few drops of light pink gel food coloring. (Don’t use red, as it will turn rusty brown in baking).
5. Mix in dry ingredients. Mix on low until just barely combined.
6. Stir in chocolate chips and cherries. You can use up to 3 cups chocolate chips, but don’t use more, as the cookies will start to fall apart.
7. Chill, if desired. This is optional, and simply helps the cookies keep their rounded shape better during baking. You can also freeze them for 10 minutes after shaping and placing them on a cookie sheet.
8. Form into balls. I like using a cookie scoop so I can just place the dough onto my baking sheet, but you can use a spoon then roll it into a rough ball. Place cookies 2” apart on your prepared cookie sheet.
9. Bake. Bake until no longer matte in appearance and the edges begin to darken.
10. Let cool on pan then on cooling rack. You don’t want them to keep cooking once you take them out of the oven, so only keep them on the pan 5-10 minutes.
Enjoy!
Tips and FAQ’s for this recipe
What kind of cherries should I use?
Any kind of fresh cherry will do! You can also use maraschino cherries, but they will be sweeter, so just be aware that the juice and chopped cherries will both add more sugar to the cookies. I don’t recommend frozen, as those can often lose flavor and have to be defrosted before being used.
Is the food coloring necessary?
Not at all! I only used it for fun, since these were to celebrate my daughter turning 6 months old. If you do choose to use food coloring, use pink. The cookies will darken quite a bit in baking, so you don’t want the dough to be too dark. If you choose not to use it, the cookies will look like regular chocolate chip cookies, as there isn’t enough cherry juice to alter the color.
Can I make these ahead of time?
Yes! The dough will last up to 3 days in the fridge or at least a couple months in the freezer, depending on how well-sealed they are. I like to scoop my dough out, place it on a cookie sheet and let it freeze for an hour, then place the frozen cookie dough balls into freezer safe bags. Be sure to label the dough with the date so you don’t keep them too long.
Do I have to use European butter?
Personally, I think it makes a huge difference. It’s creamier and has a very different consistency than sweet cream butter. Since you only have a few ingredients here, you want to make sure each one is of the highest quality. But don’t worry—you can often find it at places like Costco on sale!
Brown the butter for a sturdier, chewier cookie
While I did not brown the butter here, I usually brown the butter for all of my cookies. It removes some of the water from the butter, which in turn helps prevent the sugar from creating too much liquid while baking (because sugar turns to liquid when heated). Thus, you won’t have cookies that spread too much or become too thin in the oven. While I adjusted the recipe to account for this and these cookies won’t spread if made as written, they don’t last as long as browned butter cookies, which is why I always suggest browning the butter if you have the time. You can follow the directions here to brown the butter. If you do brown it, start with two extra tablespoons—so 7/8 cup (14 tablespoons or 196g) butter, as it reduces in browning.
Spoon then level your flour
Don’t scoop your flour! I never knew this until I started blogging, but it seriously makes a big difference. You will end up with roughly 25% more flour than the recipe called for if you just doonk (official baking term right there) your measuring spoon into the flour container and scoop. Gently spoon your flour into your measuring cup then level it off with the back of a knife. Trust me! It makes a difference.
My tools
Here are my must-have tools I use for making these cookies. Affiliate links provided.
Mesh sieve (both to strain the cherry juice and optionally to sift the flour)
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See this page for all of my cherry recipes!
Brown Butter Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
- prep time: 15-20 minutes
- chill time: 1 hour to 3 days (optional)
- bake time: 10-12 minutes
- total time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
yields: about 36 cookies
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup (170g) unsalted European style butter*, softened but not shiny
- 2 ⅔ cups (363g) all-purpose flour**, spooned then leveled (see note)
- 1 teaspoon (5g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (6g) sea salt (reduce to ⅛ teaspoon if using salted butter)
- 1 ⅓ cup (266g) brown sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup (67g) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (13g) pure vanilla extract
- 2-3 cups (340-510g) semi-sweet chocolate chips (or your favorite kind)
- 2 cups (about 10oz or 280g) fresh cherries (should be about 1 cup after pitting and chopping)
- optional: several drops of pink gel food coloring
Instructions:
- Pit, chop, and strain cherries. It’s easiest to use a cherry pitter then to chop the cherries, but you can just slice around the pit if need-be. Once you chop them, set a small to medium fine mesh sieve over a cup or bowl and strain the cherries to reserve some juice. Finally, place the strained cherries in between a few paper towels and squeeze until mostly dry.
- Preheat oven to 325F/165C and line a cookie sheet (or sheets) with parchment (or use a silicone mat to help reduce your carbon footprint!). Optionally, you can do this after chilling the cookies for 1 hour or up to 3 days.
- Whisk together your flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl, using a hand mixer), beat butter on high until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Add the sugars and beat on high for at least 3 minutes, until it gets lighter and fluffier and the sugar starts to dissolve. Scrape the bowl as needed, at least once during this 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat on medium until well blended, about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the reserved cherry juice and beat on medium until blended.
- If using food coloring, add it at this point and mix. It will lighten slightly when you add the flour but will then darken in the oven.
- Add the flour mixture and beat on low until nearly combined. Don’t worry if there are some streaks of flour, as the next step takes care of that.
- Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chips and chopped cherries.
- Optionally, chill the dough. This creates a chewier yet sturdier cookie and is recommended but not necessary. Cover and chill the dough at least an hour or up to 2 days. I found that chilling overnight was perfect. If you’re in a rush, you could form them into balls and freeze them for 20 minutes.
- When ready to bake, use a spoon or cookie scoop to form the dough into balls about 1 to 1 ½ inches in diameter. If you did not chill the dough, you will likely need to use a spoon.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the tops of the cookies are no longer shiny (or there’s just a tiny bit of shine around the chocolate chips).
- Let cool on the pan about 10 minutes, then either enjoy or remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
Store leftovers in an airtight container on the counter. Dough can be formed into balls and frozen in an airtight container up to 2 months. Bake straight from freezer.
*European butter is best! It has less water and makes a better cookie, in my opinion.
**Be sure to spoon then level the flour into your measuring cup OR weigh it to prevent packing it in and ending up with too much.
