Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies

If you're new here, my husband and I live in an RV and spend the year traveling around the country. And, since purchasing a sailboat in July of 2025, we now spend our summers on Lake Michigan.

One of the many things to do in Michigan in the summer is attend the Traverse City Cherry Festival. The 8-day festival attracts over a half million people and, as you can imagine, includes cherry everything.

The most popular vendor at the cherry festival is the Grand Traverse Pie Company tent where they serve up hundreds of thousands of slices of cherry crumb pie and massive cherry chocolate chunk cookies.

In years past, the festival inspired this recipe for sweet cherry crumb pie. And this year, I couldn't wait to get home and start recreating the buttery cherry chocolate chunk cookies.

Ingredients needed to bake these cookies

• Unsalted butter. You can also use salted butter in these cookies if you like, but you might want to reduce the amount of salt in the dough by about half.
• Brown sugar and granulated sugar. The combination of brown and white sugar gives these cookies the best of both worlds - slightly crispy edges and a soft, chewy center.
• 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk. That extra yolk adds richness and an extra chewy texture.
• A generous amount of vanilla and almond extract gives these cookies a gorgeous flavor.
• All purpose flour + baking powder + baking powder + salt
• Bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks
• Dried cherries

Additions and substitutions

• Make them gluten free: Swap out the all-purpose flour for a one-to-one gluten free flour mix. I like King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour.
• Swap out the cherries for any other kind of dried fruit. Try these with dried cranberries, dried blueberries, or chopped dried apricots or figs!
• Add some crunch with a handful of nuts! Toss in some chopped roasted almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts or pecans.
• Instead of bittersweet chocolate: Use milk chocolate, white chocolate, or any kind of flavored chocolate bar. For example, try them with a couple of chopped up Orange Chocolate Bars or Tony's milk chocolate caramel bars. You could even swap out the chocolate for a candy bar like Snickers or Heath bars!

Step-by-step photos and instructions

Use an electric mixer to beat the butter with both sugars until the mixture has lightened in color and appears aerated and fluffy.

Add the eggs and the egg yolk one at a time, beating well after each addition to fully incorporate it into the butter and sugar before adding the next.

Add the vanilla and almond extract and beat until completely incorporated.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a bowl and stir with a wire whisk to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on low speed just until blended.

Use a spoon to stir the dried cherries and chocolate chunks into the cookie dough.

Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days.

Shape the dough into balls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake until the outside edges are set and golden brown but the center of the cookies still looks a bit underdone.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire baking rack to cool completely.

Serving suggestion

These cookies are crazy good served with a scoop of cherry ice cream and a drizzle of hot fudge.

Because one can never have too many chocolate chip cookie recipes

If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Scroll down to rate this recipe and leave a comment for me.

Happy baking!