The base of this recipe is one of my favorite cookies. Ever. Ever ever. I’ll put up that recipe sometime, but for now……….

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies (E, N)
makes 4-5 dozen

Ingredients:
– 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
– 1 cup whole wheat flour
– 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
– 1 tsp. baking soda
– 1/4 tsp. salt
– a dash or two of cinnamon (optional)

–  1/2 cup butter, softened
– 1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening (I used Crisco)
– 3/4 cup granulated sugar
– 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract

– 3 tbsp. canola oil
– 3 tbsp. water
– 2 tsp. baking powder

– 1 cup white chocolate chips
– 1 1/2 cups dried cherries, roughly chopped

– Sea salt, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
   
2. Combine dry ingredients (all purpose flour through cinnamon) in a large bowl.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, shortening, and sugars.
   
4. Add vanilla extract to butter mixture, and combine.
5. In a small bowl, whisk canola oil, water, and baking powder in a small bowl. Let it stand a few seconds until mixture is bubbly.  This is your egg replacer.
   
6. With the stand mixer on low, slowly pour the egg replacer into the butter mixture.
7. In thirds, pour the flour mixture into butter.
   
8. Finally, fold in the white chocolate chips and dried cherries.
9. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheet. Using the bottom of a glass or measuring cup, flatten the tops of the cookies slightly. Sprinkle a bit of the sea salt on top, if using.
   
10. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until bottoms of cookies are firm and set.
11. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
12. Enjoy!

Notes:
– If you don’t have a stand mixer, no problem! Use a hand-held beater, or simply a whisk.
– To make this slightly healthier, use only a 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, and 1/3 cup packed brown sugar. However, if you’re trying to be healthy, you might want to skip these cookies completely 😉
– The egg replacer recipe should get bubbly, just because of the reaction those ingredients have, but if it doesn’t, don’t worry about it.
– The reason you should pour the flour mixture into the butter in thirds is to prevent over-mixing. Putting all of the flour into the butter at once will make tough cookies (haha…punny….)
– Every time I make these cookies, people rave about the salt on top. You don’t need to include it, but I’m telling you, it brings out the sweetness of every ingredient in them. SO GOOD!
– It might sound kind of weird, but I like to store these in the freezer. They are soooo delicious like that. For regular storage, just keep them in an airtight container. After about three or four days, they start taking on the flavor of their container (if that makes sense), so if they’re not gone in that amount of time, keep them in the freezer and just thaw them as needed 🙂

Nutrition: