It’s almost Valentine’s Day! I have never bought into the idea that you have to have a romantic partner to enjoy February 14th. Heart-shaped cards, chocolate, and all things pink, red, purple, and sparkly have always been more than enough for me. The chocolate-covered strawberry is arguably the pinnacle of Valentine’s Day, at least edibly speaking. The red color and sweetness of the strawberry is given a glamorous upgrade with a chocolate coating.
A decade or so ago, I was wandering the aisles of the specialty grocery store down the street from my house when I saw some cartons of dried strawberries. Not the freeze-dried kind that have now become popular – these were soft-dried, with a texture more like raisins. I thought ‘those look tasty, but what would I do with them’? Later I thought of a chocolate cookie recipe I had, and wondered if it would work to bake pieces of the dried strawberries into the dough, along with some milk chocolate chips, for a sort of chocolate-covered-strawberry cookie.
A month or two later, I finally decided to go for it. I went back to the specialty store, bought a small carton of strawberries, and made the cookies as planned…and life has never been quite the same since. The strawberries were even better than I imagined, with the taste of a strawberry fruit rollup. These cookies are extra chocolatey, and the chewy dried fruit and chocolate chips add some textural variation. The cookies also have delightful crinkly tops, and the add-ins give them a chunky look. A chef told me this was the best cookie of her life (seriously!) Several people who have eaten these have described them as ‘filled with love’.
So, whatever your romantic situation is at Valentine’s this year, I hope you too are ‘filled with love’. If you need something to bring to a Valentine’s Day gathering, I guarantee these will be a hit. Happy Baking!
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup granulated (white) sugar
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp cup light brown sugar
¼ cup (1/2 stick) salted butter
3.5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2.5 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 Tbsp flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped, natural dried strawberries (see tips below).
Directions:
Sift flour and baking powder together in a small bowl; set aside. Melt butter and chocolates in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350° F. Place sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add eggs and mix on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, or until mixture appears pale yellow, thick and frothy. (This step is critical to the texture of the final cookies.) Using a small rubber spatula, scrape chocolate mixture from saucepan into bowl and stir until fully incorporated. Add flour and baking powder to bowl and stir until just combined. Add dried fruit and chocolate chips and stir to incorporate. Cover bowl and allow dough to thicken for 20 minutes (do not chill).
When dough is done thickening, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop, place 9 scoops of dough on sheet, evenly spaced apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until centers appear set. Allow cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on metal sheet, then transfer parchment paper to a wire cooling rack. When cookies are fully cooled, peel from parchment paper and transfer to an airtight container to store.
No Comments