Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have never been one to hoard my recipes, but this one is hard for me to post. While I can easily follow someone else's recipe, I'm not very creative. These cookies are one of the few recipes that I came up with on my own, so I'm tempted to hold onto them. But in the end, they're just too good not to share.

For the cherries, we love Traverse Bay's Montmorency Dried Cherries that you can get on Amazon. They're wonderful for baking, adding to oatmeal, or just eating by the handful. And they're perfect for food storage! They fluctuate in price, but when they're around $20 for 4 lbs, it's a better price than I've found in any store. If you don't want to wait, or you don't feel like you need that many dried cherries, I'm sure you can find something comparable at any grocery store. My friend Missy used chopped up Maraschino cherries, and they tasted great, but the cookies were too sweet. I think using a tart cherry is probably the best way to go.

In Alaska, they are best the first day (nothing seems to last long in Alaska, except snow), so feel free to eat them all in one sitting. If you're outside of the state, I guess you can spread it out a little more.

Printable Recipe

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1-1/4 cups dried cherries
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together butter, shortening, and sugars.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to the batter while beating on low.

Add both chocolates, cherries and nuts, and mix by hand until combined.

Refrigerate dough for 15 minutes.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, and return the extra dough to the refrigerator between batches.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Do not over bake.

Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen.