Chocolate Cherry Poppyseed Cookies
Call me a rebel, but when a recipe calls for dried cranberries? I used dried cherries. "Adam!" you might say. "What are you? Some kind of thorn in the side of society, trying to topple the status quo?" To that I say, "Hey, I'm just your average every day food blogger who happens to like dried cherries more than dried cranberries." Especially when they pop up in these chocolate cherry poppyseed cookies.
Things Won't Go Awry... if You Use Rye
This recipe comes to us from none other than Dorie Greenspan, the doyenne of all things French and all things baking. She learned it from the owners of Mokonuts, a chic cafe in Paris that I somehow miss every time I visit. (Not that I visit Paris that often, but I've been a few times.)
The recipe has all kinds of twists and turns that make them fascinating to make. For starters? It uses mostly rye flour with just a little white thrown in. Does that make the cookies taste like a pastrami sandwich? Hardly. It tastes more like a nutty, complex cookie dough than your typical all-white version.
Chocolate Cherry Poppyseed Cookies Need Chocolate, Cherries, and Poppyseeds
The batter is a pretty standard affair: butter, sugar, egg. But after the dry ingredients go in come the goodies. Poppyseeds render the cookie slightly crunchy and complex. The dried cherries (and cranberries if you must) lend a tartness and a fruitiness. And then, of course, there's the bittersweet chocolate.
It's just four ounces of chocolate -- one bar of Ghiardelli's 70% bittersweet, if you shop like I do -- but it gets the job done.
Patience is a Virtue (Even with Cookies)
See the end-of-day light hitting these balls of cookie dough? That's because it was the end-of-the-day and I wouldn't be making the cookies until Day 2. That's because you have to refrigerate the batter overnight.
Now I know that sounds tedious, but it really makes a difference! There are even experiments that prove the point.
Show a little patience and the next day, you'll be rewarded with scrumptious cookies. All you have to do then is salt them, bake them for ten minutes in a 425 oven, and then bop them with a spatula to flatten them a little. That's the fun part.
That's a cookie worth flying to Paris for. Or, if you can't swing that, it's worth waiting 24 hours for. (And if you cheat and make them the same day, I won't tell. Just don't tell Dorie Greenspan.)
Chocolate Cherry Poppyseed Cookies
A riff on Dorie Greenspan's riff on a recipe from Mokonuts in Paris.
1 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons medium-rye flour (That's 130 grams if you're weighing, which you really should. More accurate)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (85 grams)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons unsalted butter at cool room temperature (140 grams)
1/2 cup sugar (100 grams)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (100 grams)
1 large egg
1/3 cup poppyseeds (50 grams)
2/3 cup moist, plump dried cherries (or cranberries) (80 grams)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks (113 grams)
Maldon sea salt, for sprinkling
Whisk together the rye flour, all-purpose, baking powder, sea salt, and baking soda. Set that aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed for three minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the egg and beat two minutes more. Turn off the mixer, add all of the dry ingredients, then pulse the mixer on and off until the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated. Add the poppyseeds, cranberries, and chocolate and mix just until combined.
On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, scoop out the dough (I used a 1/4-cup ice cream scooper) and roll each scoop into a ball. You should get about fifteen cookies. Cover the sheet with plastic and refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.
When you're ready to bake, heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line another cookie sheet with parchment and space 6 to 8 cookies 2-inches apart (you'll bake the rest the next time around). Sprinkle them with flaky sea salt.
Bake for ten minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Remove the sheet from the oven and using a metal spatula, smack them down so they spread out and wrinkle a little. Think of it as whack-a-mole, only with cookies. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for three minutes, then transfer to a rack (I just pulled the parchment directly on to the rack, as opposed to lifting each individual cookie). Cool another ten minutes and then they're ready to eat.
Bake the remaining cookies or freeze them for another time.
Dessert
French
chocolate, cookies, dried cherries, poppyseeds
