double dark chocolate pomegranate cookies

I really was preparing my quilt market post for you….but you know, Friday just seems like the perfect day to share an ooey gooey super decadent treat. And no joke, this may be my favorite cookie recipe to-date. Can you believe that?
It’s the kind of thing I want to eat in heaven (and the kind of thing my husband would hate–it’s far too rich for his milky palate).

I’ve tried other chocolate cookie recipes before with dried cherries and cranberries. But this is far better. I can’t even describe how tasty the dark chocolate is with sudden bursts of pomegranate juice scattered throughout. You have to experience it for yourself.
You see last week I spotted this recipe on my new favorite food blog: How Sweet it is. She’s deliciously addictive with beautiful photos and yummy ideas. I can’t stop pinning. And I haven’t gotten the idea of chocolate and pomegranate out of my head.

So…
I took my trusty Classic Chocolate Chip cookie recipe and combined with her pomegranate idea to create a super chocolately, loaded version:
Go buy a pomegrante today.
You’ll want to make this over the weekend.

Okay, start by “de-seeding” the pomegranate. And remember…the brilliant color will stain clothing so make sure you’re careful or wear an apron.
The easiest way to release the arils (those red seeds) is to cut the fruit in half or fourths, place it in a bowl of water in the sink, and pull the white membranes back to reveal the arils. Carefully pick them off into the water. Some will squish and break. That’s okay. The white membranes will rise to the top of the water, making it easy to scoop them off. Then drain the seeds and you have beautiful pomegranate arils. They’re mesmerizing eye candy.
With the arils set-aside, we’re ready to make cookies!

Double Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Cookies
Makes 2-3 dozen
bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes

1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter–don’t use margarine
1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening–you can substitute more butter or Coconut Shortening here but shortening gives cookies a flaky crisp

3/4 cups White Sugar
3/4 cups Brown Sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla

2 cups Flour
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt

2 to 2 1/2 cups choc chips–appx 1 bag of chips. (I prefer mixing 1/2 bag of semi-sweet and 1/2 bag of milk chips)
1 cup pomegranate arils (those red seeds. 1 Pomegranate is more than enough)

In a Kitchenaid mixer (or in a bowl with a handmixer) cream together the butter, shortening, 2 sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Beat the mixture on medium-high for a full 3 minutes–this is important. During that time you’ll watch the chemistry of the ingredients change into a very creamy mixture.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine it with the butter mixture and mix till everything is incorporated.

Then comes my favorite part…
Add the pomegranate arils and chocolate chips. In my opinion, more chips is better than less. So I add about 2 1/2 cups of chips (or 1 bag of chips). And I prefer using a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chips. Dump in the chips and arils and mix briefly to incorporate everything. A few seeds may burst while mixing but that’s fine.

Scoop the dough into 15 small balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes (10 mins was perfect in my oven). And you have tasty rich cookies!
I also experimented with chilling the dough overnight and the baking worked out about the same as cooking them immediately. But I will say that eating the cold cookie dough from the fridge was absolutely divine. The crunchy chips, the cold bursts of juice? They were chocolate truffles in my mouth. I might just nibble on that throughout the day.

As I do with all cookie recipes, I wrapped up the rest of the dough in wax paper logs (more info here) and placed it in the freezer to bake on another day. I’m not sure how well the seeds will freeze but I’ll update the recipe here next time I bake them.

Of course….the cookies were extra spectacular just fresh out-of-the-oven with scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream on top. Wow.
I’m not kidding.
It’s better than desserts I’ve had in fancy restaurants.
And at one point Owen toddled over to the table and asked what I was doing. So I placed the whole plate of cookies in his face and let him go at it.
He touched every single one, took nibbles, and enjoyed eating however much he wanted…without me saying a word. Life’s good like that sometimes.
If it makes you feel better about your day, all these cookies were baked at 8am this morning….which means that yes, I ate that gooey cookie ice cream bowl for breakfast. See, you’re already off to a better start than me.

But seriously, try these cookies out over the weekend.
If you’re a chocolate lover, you’ll be smiling.
Have a tasty weekend!

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  1. 1) Dennis

    Thank you for the cookie recipe.

  2. 2) Dorine

    Found this recipe when looking for something to do with some pomegranate arils that we ended up with, and it was great. Thank you for sharing it.

  3. 3) Christina

    Looks amazing, can’t wait to try this! Your blog is now bookmarked in my browser, so many neat things I want to try, and so simple and yet playful and functional – might have to invest in a sewing machine to try them out! 🙂 Thanks!

  4. 4) Dorie

    These cookies are awesome. I made them at Christmas time, but I’m getting an inkling for them. I thought I’d sub blueberries since pomegranates aren’t in season.

  5. Oh yum. I am making these either tonight or tomorrow…depending on time. 🙂 Did the pomegranates end up freezing okay?

  6. yes! This is just what I needed! Cut up 2 poms today that need to be used asap. Can’t wait to give these a try tomorrow.

    -Krystal @ recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com

  7. 7) Krystal

    I made these cookies last year around the holidays, they were devine! I am going to make more this year and give them as gifts with some homemade breads and orange/honey butter. Thanks so much for shareing this recipe!

    • 8) Rachel

      what breads would make to go with the orange honey butter? and can you share the butter recipe?

  8. 9) Tara

    I made these tonight and I never expected them to be SO ADDICTING!!! I could eat them all day long but instead I will share… =) Thanks for sharing such yummy recipes with beautiful pictures!

  9. 10) Jessica L

    I just wanted you let you know I’ve used this recipe about 4 times and love it more and more each time! I’m not even a big rich chocolate fan but goodness I could eat this entire batch of dough and cookies ready to bake! I’m entering these in a cookie exchange tomorrow (with a link to your page, don’t worry!) and I’m sure they will be fabulous additions. My only variations are that I’ve now just added all the seeds from the pomegranate (1 cup? 1.5 cups? I don’t know… more pomegranate the better!) and notched it up to 1 cup of milk chocolate chips, 1 cup semi sweet, and 1 cup dark… for TRIPLE chocolate cookies! 🙂 The batter itself is just divine though! Very fudgy and salty/sweet… yum!! Thank you for creating such an amazing recipe! I think it’s my absolutely favorite!

  10. This is like dark chocolate with wine! And that’s just the batter BEFORE it’s cooked!

  11. 12) Nansy

    Thank you! It can be stored for 20 days?
    If so, then in a sealed jar? At room temperature or refrigerated?
    Sorry for literacy …

  12. 13) Tony

    This cookie recipe is a real winner and the outcome was delicious. I made them for the first time about a week ago and, needless to say, I’ll be making them many more times in the future. I’d like to offer a few helpful hints: once the dough is made, place it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour to allow the ingredients to harden a bit. The firmer dough is easier to roll into a ball and leaves less dough stuck to one’s hands. I also upped the baking time to about 15 minutes per batch. At 8 to 10 minutes baking time, the cookies had a tendency to crumble and fall apart. Experiment from 12 to 15 minutes baking time to your taste! Bon appetit!

  13. 14) Becky

    Wow! Just finished eating a few off my first batch, they were like chocolate lava cakes fresh outta the oven. I’m going to send these out to friends before I eat them all!

  14. Great recipe! He looks like he is having a very good time. 🙂

  15. 16) Renee

    Omgee, just baked these, to die for! I used double the amount of arils, even better juice sensation. For the past 20 years I have been putting up pomegranate jelly. From now on your cookies will be in our autumn kitchen.

  16. 17) Trish

    These have become my absolute favorite cookies. I make them for all events now and can’t wait to start my Christmas baking with them this weekend!

    • 18) Dana

      Awesome! Maybe I need to make them again too…
      Thanks for sharing!

  17. 19) Rachel

    These sound AMAZING! Crazy question…salted or unsalted butter?

  18. 20) Lucille Balaz

    Would like to try these do they have to be refrigerated or can they stay out, and can you freeze

    • 21) Dana

      They don’t need to be refrigerated, any different than other chocolate chip cookies.
      Yes you can freeze them also if you’d like. I love frozen cookies! Nice and chewy 🙂

  19. 22) Beth

    These are very good overall, and I think the recipe is very adaptable. Easy. Deep chocolate flavor. The pomegranates didn’t add as much flavor or crunch as I’d hoped, though. I originally baked only a few to test them. I then added cocoa nibs to the batter and that helped. I think these would be really good with cocoa nibs and dried cherries vs the pomegranates.

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