chewy chocolate cherry cookies

i use pinterest to store a lot of the recipes that catch my eye while i’m rummaging around the internet, but keeping on top of what i’ve pinned and then getting round to trying something new is never as easy as adding things to the list. however, i am trying to be better at this and these lovely chewy cookies are the result.

the original recipe, from ruby tandoh, is for ginger, orange and chocolate flavoured cookies but, following her advice to swap in different flavours, i decided to use dried cherries in place of the ginger as the chocolate i used had some of these in as well.

i really enjoyed these – they don’t have the slightly sour flavour that some cookies have and the texture was great – crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle. sadly i don’t know how well they keep as they were all eaten within a day of being made.

ruby tandoh’s chewy ginger, orange and dark chocolate cookies (makes 20-24)

50g golden syrup

150g light brown soft sugar

90ml almond or corn oil (i used vegetable oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

60ml milk

210g plain flour

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ teaspoon salt

100g candied ginger (i used dried cherries)

100g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

zest of 1 orange

preheat the oven to 180c and line a couple of large baking trays with baking parchment.

in a large bowl, stir together the golden syrup, sugar, oil, vanilla extract and milk until smooth. mix the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and salt, then add this to the wet ingredients. stir until the ingredients are barely combined, then add the candied ginger, chocolate and orange zest.

this cookie dough is a lot looser than some others you might be used to – rather than rolling or cutting out the cookie portions, you’ll have to spoon the mixture out. dollop teaspoons of the batter on to the prepared baking trays, spacing well apart, as you’ll notice that the batter tends to spread.

bake in the preheated oven (in batches, if necessary) for 15-17 minutes, until the cookies’ edges are golden brown and the centres are puffy. leave to cool and firm up on their trays for 10 minutes or so before carefully shimmying them on to a wire rack to finish cooling. they’ll set harder as they cool, so don’t worry if they’re soft just after baking.