Oatmeal Cherry Dark Chocolate Cookies

I know you were waiting to hear about the cookie recipe I posted yesterday, so I will hold out no longer! Potluck #2 of the week was a delayed family Christmas gathering. I look forward to this day sooo much because life really gets in the way and you don't realize how little time you really get to spend with the ones you love, and I love these "ones" a lot! I'm very close with my cousins and now that they each have families of their own it's so neat to see our family dynamic changing. The babies are the life of the party and I wouldn't want it any other way! But I digress from the food discussion you are so anxiously awaiting... are you surprised?!

Look at those two buggers!!!

Because there are quite a few vegetarians on this side of my family I knew that I wanted to go with a salad (Garbanzo & Avocado anyone?) or dessert... however, my cousin, Stef, is an awesome baker so I knew there would be some stiff competition in the dessert department. But, thanks to my dieting friends I had no choice but to go with the cookies.

I mean, just look at that beautiful piece of edible art!

BUT... before I take credit for these delicious cookies, I must share the backstory. Because of my back injury (which I mentioned yesterday) I was prescribed strong painkillers. However, the shoddy urgent care doctor gave me too high a dose which I figured out the hard way the day Ben and I were planning on baking the cookies. I was so sick that I had to go to bed. So my wonderful, amazing boyfriend made each and every one of these 60+ cookies (you DO NOT need to double this recipe like we did... we had NO idea how many cookies this recipe would produce). Ben even woke me up to try the dough! :::swoon::: He was also the one who suggested replacing the white chocolate from the original recipe with the dark. Yeah, he's a keeper.

So enough bragging about my baker boyfriend and on to the recipe!

Oatmeal Cherry Dark Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from Joy the Baker (LOVE her recipes and her photography is brillz)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350°F.

In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and cherries; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Paula Deen would be proud.

Hmmm... this bowl is looking a little too small for this task.

Ahhh... much better.

In go the dried cherries.

If I had bought 2 bags of chips I'm sure Ben would've added even more chocolate (not that I'm complaining in any way)!

Mix mix mix

This dough tasted AMAZING! Totally worth salmonella poisoning.

Beautiful goodness.

It was like never ending cookie dough... NOM!

These were a big hit at the party... everyone went home with a goodie bag and I emailed the recipe around the next day! I also received a kick ass gift from my secret santa. TONS of baking equipment and a really amazing cupcake book. I have some goals to achieve this year and they mostly involve food and photography! Can't wait to start baking! :D