Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

These quiet, unassuming Chocolate Chip Cookies are really CHERRY Chocolate Chip Cookies in disguise! The tartness of the dried cherries give the cookies a little kick. This recipe is based off Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.


Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar¹
2/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sweetened almond milk²
1 tablespoon tapioca flour³
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups chocolate chips⁴

3/4 cup dried cherries

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together sugars, oil, almond milk, and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Then mix in the vanilla.

Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda, and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips and dried cherries.

For 3 inch cookies, roll the dough into about ping pong ball size balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. They will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes - no more than 9 - until they are just a little browned around the edges. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For 2 dozen two inch cookies roll dough into walnut sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for only six minutes.

Makes two dozen two inch cookies or about 16 three inch cookies.

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My preferred products and where you can find them:

1. a. 365 Vegan Cane Sugar- Whole Foods
b. Florida Crystals Cane Sugar- Sprouts, Whole Foods, Fry's Marketplace

2.I always try to use almond milk for baking, but soy milk works too. I used the vanilla almond milk for these cookies but could just as easily have used the chocolate.
a. Blue Diamond Almond Breeze SWEETENED Almond Milk (Vanilla or Chocolate)- Sprouts, Whole Foods, Fry's Marketplace
b. Silk Original Soy Milk (Plain)- Sprouts, Whole Foods, Fry's Marketplace...most mainstream groceries, even Wal-Mart carries it.

3.If you cannot find this, you can try using a spice grinder on the quick cooking tapioca.
a. Bob's Red Mill Tapioca Flour- Whole Foods, and possibly Fry's Marketplace & Sprouts

4. a. Sunspire Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips- Sprouts, Whole Foods
b. Whole Foods Brand Chocolate Chips- Whole Foods