Chewy Cherry Chocolate Cookies

For these, I modified this recipe.  The result is decadent and amazing.  Dried cherries offer a nice tang that perfectly counterbalances the white and dark chocolates.  I always look on the lable of dried fruits to find brands that don't use sulfur compounds in the preserving process, and was pleased to find that Costco carries a very good brand of cherries.  I recently found macaroon coconut and really love using it in baking recipes.  It's a fine, dry, short flake style coconut, the sort you see in packaged cookies like Samoas.  For those of you in Utah, I found mine at Kitchen Kneads.  In making a couple of batches of these, I messed around with the best way to chill it and discovered that wrapping a log of dough in wax paper and then simply slicing off dough rounds was far simpler than trying to scoop balls out of a hardened lump of dough.  This recipe must be chilled before baking - no exceptions.

Chewy Cherry Chocolate Cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 T. vanilla extract
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup macaroon coconut
4 ounces good quality white chocolate (like Ghiradelli), coarsely chopped
1 cup extra dark semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped

Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla.  Beat in the salt, soda, flour and coconut, then stir in the chocolate and cherries.  Divide the dough in half and on two 14" long piece of wax paper, form each into a 2" diameter log of dough.  Roll the dough log up and twist the ends.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Slice a log of dough into 12 equal pieces and place on a baking sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.  The top will appear just barely set, but still quite soft in the middle.  Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 1-2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.  These are best if eaten within a day of baking, and should be stored in an airtight container.

**Thanks to Nan for giving me this pretty dish to take pictures of my food on :).