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.