Since it’s getting close to Valentine’s Day, I created these beautiful, enchanting cookies using flavors which evoke love and romance. Rich, pleasantly bitter dark chocolate and sweet, tart raspberries are a perfectly balanced, elegant combination. I used freeze-dried raspberries in the cookie dough for the most bright, pure raspberry flavor. The raspberries turn the cookie dough a mauve-red color, but if you want a more intense red, you can add a drop or two of red gel good coloring.
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Dark Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Cookies
Beautiful, enchantingly delicious cookies made of rich dark chocolate cookie dough with dark chocolate pieces, swirled together with sweet-tart raspberry cookie dough by Brownie Mischief
Ingredients
- 1-1.2 ounces (28-34g) freeze-dried raspberries, divided (or strawberries)
- 2 cups (255g) all purpose flour, sifted
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (198g) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup (150g) packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 pea-sized drops red gel food coloring optional
- 6 tablespoons (35g) dark unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 3.5-4 ounce (99-113g) dark chocolate bar, chopped into pieces & divided
Instructions
- Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Set aside 5 freeze-dried raspberries. Process the remaining raspberries into a powder in a small food processor or a clean spice grinder. Pass the powder through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Coarsely crush the 5 reserved freeze-dried raspberries.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda until well blended.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract in three separate additions, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next. Stir in the flour mixture just until combined.
- Transfer 1/3 of the cookie dough (about 275g), to a medium-sized bowl, using a kitchen scale for accuracy. Mix the freeze-dried raspberry powder and the food coloring into the smaller portion of cookie dough. Mix the cocoa powder into the larger portion of cookie dough. Set aside 16 of the larger pieces of chocolate. Mix the remaining pieces of chocolate into the chocolate dough.
- Divide the raspberry cookie dough into 16 equal portions, about 1 tablespoon each. Divide the chocolate cookie dough into 32 equal portions. Roll all of the cookie dough portions into balls. Divide the dough balls into 16 groups of 1 raspberry dough ball with 2 chocolate dough balls. Place a group of 3 dough balls on the palm of your hand. Place your other palm on the dough balls and roll in a circular motion until the doughs are swirled together. Place the swirled dough balls on the cookie sheet at least 3 inches apart. Top each one with a piece of reserved chocolate. Chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Bake the cookies until the tops are set and start to puff, about 10-12 minutes. The cookies will spread a bit. Remove the cookies form the oven. Immediately use a large round cookie cutter to shape the hot cookies by sliding it around each one in a circular motion a couple of times. Work quickly before the cookies set. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack. Sprinkle the crushed freeze-dried raspberries onto the melted chocolate on each cookie.
Notes
Make sure to use freeze-dried fruit, not dried fruit. I purchased my freeze-dried raspberries at Trader Joe's. They are also available at large grocery stores or online.
Aluminum cookie sheet pans will give you the most success when baking cookies. We used them in culinary school and many bakeries use them. To find my favorite sheet pan for cookies, click here.
To find the gel food coloring I used, click here.
