Michigan State Cookie Perfectly Pairs Chocolate and Cherries
If you like dark chocolate chunks and dried cherry cookies, you’ll love the Michigan State cookie. Aptly called Michigan Treasure cookies, they are filled with a delicious fusion of ingredients. The recipe was developed by a teacher at Defer Elementary School in Gross Pointe Park and uses dried cherries in homage to the production of this pitted fruit in Michigan. Cherries are a staple of the state, producing 75% of the United States’ tart cherries. But what you’ll love about this recipe is how it offers the perfect combination of unsweetened cocoa, semi-sweet chocolate chunks, and dried zesty cherries folded into cookie dough, rolled in sugar and cooked to perfection.
What’s why this dynamic chocolate-cherry pairing works so well? The purpose of using sour cherries, or any other slightly puckered fruit, is that its tartness tempers the sweet, rich, indulgent flavor of the chocolate. Together, these two contrasting ingredients balance each other while showcasing the flavor profiles each brings to this cookie.
Read more: 11 Abandoned Chocolates We Miss the Most
Michigan Treasure Cookie Ingredients Are State-Centric
Of course, the other ingredients needed to create these Michigan Treasure cookies are just as important. While the recipe that was submitted to the Michigan state legislature calls for Graceland Fruit brand dried cherries, which are produced in Michigan, what makes this state cookie even more unique to Michigan is that several other required ingredients are produced within its borders. The recipe also calls for Diamond Crystal Salt, made in the Great Lakes State, Pioneer brand brown sugar and Michigan walnuts.
But there are other ways to enhance the flavors of these treasures. While it is common to use semi-sweet dark chocolate to prepare these cookies, milk chocolate should not be neglected. Where dark chocolate tends to taste bitter, milk chocolate, which contains less cocoa than its dark cousin, is sweet. When creamy, silky milk chocolate is mixed with these tart, chewy cherries, the variations in texture and viscosity will give your mouth all the feels while creating beautiful layers of flavors. A sour cherry taste will help the sweet chocolate dull, made even sweeter when mixed with the refined sugar in these cookies.
Add More Flavor to Michigan Treasure Cookies
If you like the idea of ​​dried sour cherries and chocolate together but want to experiment with flavors, consider adding a pinch of flaky cayenne, black, or red pepper to the mix for a little heat. A spicy element will also help bring out, complement and highlight the sweet chocolate as well as the sour taste of the dried cherries.
A splash of bourbon can perk up any chocolate cake, and you might also consider adding a bit of this spirit to your chocolate cherry cookie mix. To honor its roots, Michigan-based Long Road Distillers makes a spirit called Midwest Old Fashioned and is described on their website as a blend of their best-selling Long Road Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Long Road Cherry Liqueur and Long Road Orange Liqueur. These flavors will enrich and complement the taste of the chocolate and dried cherries, and it doesn’t take much. A tablespoon or two is enough to infuse the caramel, cherry, and orange notes of this alcohol into your cookies as they bake.
Read the original article on The Daily Meal.
