Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies

These have become a favorite. One of the folks in my foodie group brought them to a picnic and I've been making them ever since. I do use sour dried cherries - keep the proportions the same but only bake for 11 mins. Mine aren't gritty or dry - use ghiradhelli dark chocolate cocoa and chips. I like the sour and bitter sweet contrast.

I used Can't believe its not butter for butter, egg beaters for the egg, extra choc chips+cranberries (instead of cranberries) and it tasted delich! Not dry at all! No additional water needed. Cooked 12" moist like a brownie & still tart. Cookies barely rose. Make about 3 dzn cookies when using moderate tsp of dough. Will make again but double the recipe to make larger cookies.

Great cookies. I did cut the cherries in pieces and steeped in boiling water then strained before adding to dough. Also mixed milk chocolate and semi sweet chips because that is what I had. Went fast.

I made the recipe as written and the chocolate cookie was OK however I could not taste either the cherries or the chocolate chips. We do not eat cookies often and I made these for holiday plates where I'm willing to splurge on the calories so perhaps I should stay away from Cooking Light recipes? If I were to make them again I would certainly increase the amount of both the cherries and the chocolate chips.

Adding these to my Christmas cookies! My husband liked the crispy exterior. Great flavor!

These are so good! I took other people's advice and baked for 10.5 minutes and turned out to be perfect. Even my boyfriend who normally doesn't like cherries loved these cookies.

This is pretty much exactly like the recipe I use (http://badtadmd.com/?p=303) except the one I use is a bigger batch and has more goodies. I make tons of cookies, but these are some of my absolute favorite. You can't go wrong with them!

Superb cookies! Big chocolate flavor. I used craisins and it tasted great. However, I would prefer a slightly chewier cookie. I baked a full 12 minutes. Maybe the next time I should bake them for 10 minutes. And I got exactly 30 cookies as the recipe said. Next time I plan on adding instant coffee and omitting the craisins and doubling the chocolate chips. I am sure it will taste great. Thumbs up for this recipe!

I love love love these cookies!! I'm a chocolate AND cherry fiend so this cookie really is the best of both worlds. I agree with other reviewers on upping the butter to 1/2 cup. But for me 14 minutes in the oven like a previous poster was a little too long and left the cookies a bit dryer than I would have wanted. Next time I'll stick with the 12 minutes and I think they'd be absolutely perfect!

Pretty sure there's nothing too healthy about these cookies but followed recipe exactly but baked for 14 minutes and these are amazing!

I followed advice of reviewers and upped butter to half a cup, and added a few more chocolate chips. I baked 10 minutes in my convection oven and they came out very chewy. Next time I want to chop up the cherries a bit. I thought the cookie was a little gritty tasting with all the cocoa

Winter Storm Warning this evening and I was feeling cold - decided to try this recipe (great excuse to turn on the oven). Read the reviews, but only deviated from the recipe regarding the cherries and chocolate chips (I put them in a mini-chopper and minced them before adding in the final step). EASY recipe! Great results! Used a small cookie scoop, but recipe only yielded 22 cookies; no worries! Easy and good. Thanks for posting this one! Oh, okay, I did use dried cherry-cranberries... still a great cookie!

I make cookies all the time and this recipe was not a favorite and my family wouldn't touch them.

I made this recipe to go along with Thanksgiving desserts. Lots of people liked them but I wasn't so crazy about them. They were tasty, but missing a little something. If I make this again I'll add more chocolate chips. I added 1 tbsp of water to the dough to make it easier to work with, and subbed cranberries for cherries, which might have affected the taste, but I thought that they turned out pretty O.K.

Can you freeze thexe cookies

Just wondering if I could substitute the dried cherries with maraschino cherries?! Haven't made them yet with cherries, but sounds really good!:)

Amazing cookies: so simple, but wonderful. Layers of flavor, from the cocoa brownie taste to the melted chocolate chips inside, to the chewy cherries. I added 1/8 tsp. ground allspice to the batter, which added yet another dimension and brought out the cherry zing. Don't overbake! 11 minutes was fine for my oven, maybe try 10 next time.

These were pretty good cookies. I over-baked mine a little so they were very crunchy, but the chocolate was still a little melty inside so still yummy. The cherries give it a nice touch. Like a chocolate-covered cherry. Next time I'll take them out sooner. Step-by-step photos on my blog! http://tinyurl.com/234e6v4

Very good and easy. use 1/2C butter as one reviewer suggested and mini chocolate chips. baked small coookies on parchment paper about 10 minutes. next time, will chop up cherries a bit and might add more. Think chopped walnuts would be wonderful. I did find them a bit too sweet, wondering whether i can cut back on sugar without affecting cookies? Will make with applesauce next time and reduce fat - this batch was made as gift. Will continue to make.

These and chocolate chip cookies are the first ones to be eaten up at Christmas. Easy to make and so good.

After baking these for years and loving them, I tried something different this year -- I increased the butter to 1/2 cup. What an improvement! They are more chewy and moist -- I didn't think they could get any better, but I was wrong. One caviat, though -- the dough is much softer. I'd recommend refrigerating it for several hours before baking the cookies to minimize spreading. I also cooled the cookie sheet under cold running water between batches. I highly recommend this modification if you're willing to accept the added fat for a better cookie!

I followed the directions precisely without any alterations and these turned out wonderful. Yes, the batter is very thick, but not unworkable. And even with baking them the full 12 min, they came out very soft and chewy. The cherries make them taste incredible!!!

This is the best cookie I have ever made and I don't even like cherries! Make them small because they are better if they are just two small bites each. And be prepared to make several batches because they disappear fast.

You will not be disappointed! I made a few changes - used only 3 tbsp butter and about 3 tbsp applesauce; 1 tsp almond extract instead of vanilla extract; and used mini chocolate chips. Batter was not dry in the slightest, and I got about 24 cookies when using my tablespoon cookie scoop. Needed to cook 17-18 minutes due to changes in batter.

These cookies are delicious - I made them a few years ago and rediscovered the recipe and decided to make for Thanksgiving this year. My friends did a preliminary taste test and we all agree that they are yummy! I didn't alter the recipe at all - the dough is thick, but I didn't have trouble w/ dryness - they cooked up perfectly. I will definitely keep this recipe and make again.

I think the method of measuring the flour is the key to this recipes moisture. I made the following alterations, used 1/3 cup white choc chips, Hersey's Dark Cocoa powder, and Almond extract. The taste and texture are wonderful. I got 27 cookies using a teaspoon instead of the tablespoon called for in the recipe. I am making these again tomorrow they were so good they did not last through the day. Will make for special occasions this Holiday Season. Yummy.

This is one of my favorite Christmas-cookie recipes--it's always a hit with guests and family. I make 1 /2 times the recipe but double the egg, so no problem with dryness. Favorite variation: omit cherries, add coarsely chopped macadamias or almonds. Cookies freeze beautifully.

I loved these cookies (and so did everyone else)!!! I was running low on butter (law student refrigerator) so I substituted apple sauce for about half the butter and I think it helped out with some of that dryness I read about in other reviews. I will definitely be making these again, and keeping the apple sauce!

These really were delicious. Big hit with my hubby and three little girls. I didn't get 30 cookies, however. Had to scrape to get 20, so it jumped each cookie to 120 calories--but that is still really great for such a tasty treat! I followed the recipe exactly, except I was out of vanilla so I used a tsp. of cherry brandy...worked great! I did take the advice of the other reviewers and baked my cookies for only 8 minutes. Yum!

I first made these cookies for my friend's baby shower 3 years ago. While I don't make cookies often, these are my standard go-to cookie now. I LOVE them. The dough is thick, but not too dry. If you stick the dough in the fridge before balling, they will flatten some to make a nice, thick, chewy cookie! YUMMY!!!!

i should have read the reviews before making these. i followed the recipe exactly. the chocolate-cherry flavors are great, but the batter was way too dry--i couldn't even fold the cherries & chips in but rather had to try to stick them to the outsides of the dough balls on the cookie sheet! so a lot of the cherries fell off; it seemed like there were too many anyway. cooked them for 12 minutes; should probably have cooked them less. i make small cookies, so i got 37. considering how weird the batter was, they turned out tasty, albeit not pretty.

I used Light Butter instead of full fat-and it worked perfectly. These are delicious-rich chocolatey flavor-love the cherries. Texture is great...slight chew--like a good full fat cookie. Going to be making these often. I baked for about 11 minutes-rotated pans after 6 minutes for even baking.

I used a 1/2 cup corn-oil margarine instead of the 1/3 c. butter called for, used raw sugar, and added more cherries and more chocolate chips. I used the dark baking cocoa so will sprinkle them with 3X sugar next time. The baking time made a cookie that was crisp on outside and chewy inside right out of the oven but, as others have noted, the cookies dried out quickly. When I bake them again I will bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes instead of at 350 or at 350 for less time. As a 'light' cookie, these are probably good as-is but for serious regular cookie lovers, this recipe needs tweaking. However, concept recipe is good enough to warrant customizing. Will definitely save and make again.

The chocolate and cherry combination is wonderful. I thought it was a little too much chocolate with the chocolate chips but my husband thought they were great. A definite repeat.

I have never written a review online for a recipe before but though this would be a good time to start. I like the idea of chocolate and cherries and this recipe did not disappoint. I followed the recipe exactly but added a few extra cherries and chocolate chips. Everyone loved the taste and the concept. Will definitely make these cookies again

The batter tasted extremely promising....the final product became dry much too quickly after baking. I have had this issue with other receipes using the cocoa powder. I made no modifications to the recipe.

I could not love these cookies more.

Excellent flavor. My only dilemma is that I needed a bit more liquid so I added a bit of water. I made a double batch for my coworkers and neighbors and I couldn't keep my husband way. They are very chewy and the slightest bit of salt and tartness from the cherry is a great compliment. With 12 mins baking time, they turned out slightly crunchy on the outside and chewy inside. Very good!

My friends love it so much that I have given them all the recipe...along with more cookies.