Dark Chocolate Chip and Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies. These cookies are the perfect marriage of a traditional chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookie. Made even more perfect because you sub raisins for dried cherries, which I prefer over raisins any day!
Mixing the Cookie Dough
Before you start mixing your dough, make sure all ingredients are out, measured, and ready to go! It makes the process so much more smoothly if you do. You know I have a love for my Bosch mixer and it makes an appearance in my cooking and baking several times a week. It is a workhorse and knows how to do its job!!
Cream butter and sugars. Then add eggs and vanilla. Now, once the eggs and vanilla are added, it is really important not to overmix. At this point, all you need to do is mix to combine. This is so important because over mixing now will produce a tough cookie.
Creating one-bowl recipes
To make any recipe a one-bowl recipe, which I prefer to do (I will do dishes, but I don't love to do any more than I have to!) here is what you do. Add your flour on top of the butter mixture. Now, add your baking soda and salt right on top of the flour. Gently mix the soda and salt just into the top half of your flour. That's it. Now it is a one-bowl recipe!! You will notice this recipe is loaded with oats and has very little flour. The flour it does have is whole wheat. I love this as a healthier recipe!
Whole Wheat Flour For Cookies
Choosing the right kind of whole wheat flour to use in baked goods is so important! Most of the time when I hear people complain about whole wheat baked goods, they could have used a better flour for the product. In the case of cookies, my favorite kind of wheat is a soft winter or a whole wheat pastry flour. I grind my own in my Nutrimill grain mill. Farm Fresh wheat has been my go-to for a while now for purchasing the wheat. They are generational farmers who have a great product! If you aren't grinding your own grains, you can always buy the flour. King Arthur has a great whole wheat pastry.
Last step is the chocolate chips (I went with dark chocolate because I love it!), dried cherries, and pecans. You could also sub in other ingredients if you prefer. If you want a semi-sweet, milk, or even a white chocolate, go for it! If you prefer adding in another dried fruit, that works too!! Not into pecans? Leave those out!
Portioning The Cookies For Baking
Time to get these ready to bake! I will always scoop with a portion scoop. Yes, I am slightly anal, but it is also really important to have consistent sizes for baking. You want all of them to bake at the same time and same rate! I love using these scoops for consistency. These were made with a small size, but I also use the medium scoop frequently.
The Finished Dark Chocolate Chip and Cherry Oatmeal Cookie
And here they are. It is a beautiful cookie and so delicious! These are really good on their own, but we also love them dipped in a cold glass of milk!
Cookies are perfect hot out of the oven. They are even better cooled slightly. I find with any 100% whole grain baked goods, they don't hold together as well when they are hot. So, give them a few minutes to cool off and they are perfect!
Cookies For Gifting
They make wonderful gifts, or just eat them all on their own! I love wrapping my cookies with baker's twine.
Boxing them up is also a really great idea. If you are looking for seasonal boxes, these are a great find.
A Healthier Cookie Option That Still Tastes Good!
So, if you are looking for a healthier cookie option without sacrificing taste and flavor, these are it. They are loaded with whole grain flour, rolled oats, dried cherries, and so many other good things. You have got to give these a try!
More Cookie Options
Are you looking for other cookie options? I have a few I would love to share!!
- These stamped gingerbread cookies are popular right now!
- Lemon cookies with lemon drizzle are also a big hit!
- I personally really love these chocolate chip cookies with pretzels and caramel. They are a classic with a fun twist!
- Carrot Cake Cookies always rank high on the blog!
Dried Cherry and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick softened butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ½ cup dried cherries
- ½-1 cup dark chocolate chips You can use any other chocolate you prefer!
- ¼ cup chopped pecans, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.Combine butter,oil, brown sugar and sugar in large mixing bowl. Beat for several minutes, until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla and mix to combine.In separate bowl mix oats, flours, baking soda and salt. You can also use a one-bowl method which I love to do. What you do is add your oats and flour on top of the butter mixture. On the top of the flour, add your baking soda and salt. Carefully mix this only on the top of the flour. From here is mixed enough to go! Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix until they come together. To this add dried cherries, chocolate chips and pecans if using. Combine completely, but again don't overmix.Scoop dough onto parchment lined baking sheet. I did 12 cookies per sheet, in a 3x4 pattern. Bake as many cookies as you want that day. If you aren't baking that day, scoop the remaining onto a baking sheet, lined close together. Place in the freezer. Once the balls are frozen, place in a freezer ziplock bag. They stay good for at least a month this way. When you are ready to bake, remove from freezer, place on baking sheet, allow to thaw, and bake. I like to bake mine fro 8-10 minutes. You will want the cookies to be very lightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. Carefully remove from the baking sheet and place on a cooling rack. You can eat them warm out of the oven, but I recommend waiting just a few more minutes. If they are cooled slightly it helps the cookies to hold together better. It is this way with all whole wheat cookies, then tend to fall apart a little more than all-purpose cookies. Now, sit back and enjoy. You certainly deserve it!
Viki says
Omg Amy, made these this morning and they are the BEST! My new go-to cookie! Ty, ty, ty
admin says
Awesome Viki!! I love them!