Fudgy Chocolate Cherry Cookies

February is here - the shortest month of the year and still it includes the most romantic holiday. The holiday of love. Yes, you're right it's Valentine's Day. This celebration comes from the USA and it's spread all over the world. As soon as the shops get rid off the Christmas stuff they start selling lots of red and pink shiny cute things like stuffed animals, chocolate bars with hearts on their wrappers, pralines, flowers, cards and so on. And that's it. The most common gift is chocolate and because we all love chocolate I just could have made nothing but something very chocolatey chocolate :D If don't know what to give to your loved ones, you can try these extra chocolate cookies with moist cherries which I made using absolutely delicious recipe by Marcellina who makes them at Christmas for her family (thank you so much for this recipe!). So let's get to work then :)

Valentine's Day is celebrated in my country just because of the comercial reasons so sellers can earn some extra money. My family and I don't like Valentine that much because it's too comercial and doesn't have any other deeper meaning for us. In my opinion you should show your love to the others during the whole year not only one day a year. However, this is foodblog so I'll continue writing about the food stuff :) It's traditional to give a gift on Valentine's Day and people usually buys chocolate - it's not only delicious but it also is an aphrodisiac and that's why it is a perfect gift for your loved one :) I think there is never enough chocolate so let's eat some!

When talking about chocolate, I highly recommend using a good chocolate for these cookies - the one you enjoy eating on its own - 'cause the taste of it is quite prominent and there's nothing worse but a great cookie with bad chocolate. Here's my piece of advice. Use only chocolate containing cocoa butter and no other fats (real chocolate should not contain them). If you're able to get Lindt or Valrhona it's the best you can use. Generally you shouldn't make a mistake with any chocolate free of vegetable or other fats (except for cocoa butter). It should contain at least 30% cocoa mass for the milk variation and 50% for the chocolate which you expect to be bitter. So before you buy a chocolate bar have a look at the ingredients listed on the wrapper and choose the best one :)

There are millions and millions different recipes for cookies all over the world starting with the classic Chocolate Chip Cookies continuing with matcha, nutty, marshmallow, 7-layer, ending with whatever-you-can.think-of cookies. I've wanted to try out these cookies by Marcellina for a loooong time and the right moment comes now (or well, yesterday). And they didn't disappoint at all! If you're looking for a cookie love potion, this is it :)

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
165g castor sugar
165g brown sugar
1 egg
300g all-purpose flour
25g Dutch processed cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarbonated soda powder
25g shredded coconut
80g glace cherries (or dried cherries), quartered
200g dark chocolate 50-70% cocoa, coarsely chopped
200g roasted hazelnut milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Beat together butter, sugars, vanilla and egg until smooth and creamy (2-3 minutes). Mix sifted flour,  sifted cocoa and bicarbonated soda together and add it to the butter-sugar mixture using hand mixer (or something like that). The dough is a bit thicker. Stir in coconut, cherries and both chocolates. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls, place about 5 cm apart on lined trays, flatten slightly (they'll melt into large circles during baking). Bake in preheated oven to 180C for about 9-12 minutes (see Notes and Tips) until the surface is cracky and seems to be dry (the edges can't be black at all - cookies would be burnt). Cool on trays and eat either warm or completely cooled. They're soft right after being removed from oven, but when cooled, they become thick like normal cookies.

• If you prefer crispy crunchy cookies, bake them at 180C for about 10-12 minuts, but be careful and do not overbake them! Burnt cookies aren't very delicious.
• If you prefer moist and fudgy cookies, bake them at 180C for the first 5 minutes, then lower the temperature (160-170C) and bake for another cca 3-4 minutes (the surface will be very slightly wet).
• If you want to give them as a gift, put one cookie into cellophane bag and tie it with a red or pink ribbon to create a big beautiful bow. Or you can give them on a plate sprinkled with sugar over a heart template. Be creative!
• In the original recipe there are used glace cherries. I'm not a big fan of these so I used dried cheeries instead. It worked well! If you ant to use dried cherries, too, soak them in hot water for at least 20 minutes.

Verdict:
Extra chocolatey, extra fudgy soft melt-in-your-mouth cookies :) Yummy! They aren't overally sweet and thanks to the dark chocolate and cocoa powder are a a bit bitter. Cherries make them juicy and coconut adds the final taste line to the dough. They disappeared so quickly so no cookies on Valentine's Day :D. Even my mom who doesn't like sweets coulnd't stop eating them :)