Some of my favorite things: fruit, chocolate, wine, nuts, cookies. I went ahead and combined them and these Fruit & Nut Chocolate Zinfandel Cookies were born.
I know, insane. But sometimes insane is a good thing.
You what else is insane? The fact that it is September already! How, how, how in the world did that happen? Did I accidentally hibernate all summer? Where did it go?
I guess I’ll cope by eating these cookies. Let me tell you, a very delicious coping mechanism.
I love summer, but I do really enjoy fall as well. The crisp air, the changing leaves, all the varieties of apples, boots and sweaters – so great. Also, the start of school. I always loved the first day of school. I’m a huge dork, but I just really enjoyed back-to-school shopping, school supply shopping, and the first day feeling. I should’ve bought new pens or something to bring into work today. Oh well. Next year.
Anyways, these cookies! Let’s talk more about them.
The base is a delicious chocolate drop cookie, but I added in a boost of flavor with some red wine. Why? Because chocolate and wine is always a good idea. And what else goes with chocolate and wine? Fruit and nuts, of course! So I threw those in as well. The nuts add a great texture and additional crunch to the cookies, whereas the dried fruit adds some sweetness.
Cheese also works very well with this combination, but I didn’t want to go completely overboard. I’ll save that for another day.
For the wine I used Redux Zinfandel from California, which I received in one of my Club W shipments. The recipe calls for a ½ cup of wine. ½ cup < 1 bottle, so pour yourself a glass.
Go ahead and have a glass while you bake and maybe another while you taste test. Then invite some girlfriends over to devour the cookies and drink more wine. Maybe you can serve some cheese with it too? Talk about how awesome the summer was and how great the lingering weeks of it will still be. Then start getting excited about fall and having Sunday fundays while pretending to watch football paying really close attention to football games.
That’s just a suggestion. Take it or leave it.
Baking these cookies, though. That is not a suggestion. Use them as a coping mechanism for the end of summer or as a celebration for the beginning of fall. Either way, you need these in your life. You deserve these in your life.
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup red wine
- 1 cup mixed nuts, chopped
- 1 cup mixed dried fruit, chopped
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and red wine. Beat for another minute.
- Add in the flour mixture. Mix until combined.
- Fold in the nuts and fruit.
- Place scoops of cookie dough onto the prepared pans. Bake for 11-12 minutes, be careful not to overbake. Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Happy Tuesday. I hope you all had as amazing and relaxing of a Labor Day weekend as I did. I was actually fairly productive and finally created an index page. Check it out here.
[…] of my co-workers gave me a bottle of wine in order to make these Fruit & Nut Chocolate Zinfandel Cookies for him. I’m not ashamed to admit that I will bake for […]