Everybody loved the combo of tart cranberries and melty dark chocolate, and the vanilla ice cream magically transformed the cookies into a real dessert. This makes 8 large cookies – pictured here are the two survivors on the day after.

The Dry Mix:

• 3 dl spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

The Wet Mix:

• 1 dl dark syrup
• 1/2 dl muscovado sugar
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 1 tablespoon soy yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add-Ins:

• 1/2 dl dried cranberries
• 1/2 dl chopped chocolate (72 %)

First I stirred together the wet and dry mixes in separate bowls, added the wet to the dry, and stirred with a fork until almost combined. I poured in the cranberries and chocolate and kneaded them in, and then refrigerated the dough overnight in a zip-lock bag.

After our dinner the next day, I pre-heated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and divided the dough into 8 equal portions. I rolled them into balls and flattened slightly on a cookie sheet, and then baked for 11 minutes.

The cookies came out of the oven still soft, but after about 10 minutes they had nice crispy edges and chewy centers – quite perfect served with a scoop of ice cream and a dessert fork.

Adding wheat bran to cookies is a good way of making you feel like you’re baking something almost healthy without compromising flavor. This batch yields about 10 medium-sized cookies, and they keep very well in room temperature for a few days at least.

The Dry Ingredients:

• 1 dl whole spelt flour
• 1 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl wheat bran
• 1/2 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

The Wet Ingredients:

• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

I first mixed the dry and the wet ingredients in separate bowls, and then combined in one of the bowls. The dough was dry-ish but kept together when pinched between two fingers.

I then proceeded to cover a baking sheet with baking parchment and rolled the dough into 10 balls. I flattened the cookies slightly – they only spread a little in the oven, so this is an important step. Then I baked them in 175 degrees Celsius for 8 to 9 minutes, when still soft but just slightly browned on the underside.

These cookies had a good crunch, but also a nice and chewy center – there is a risk of overbaking these, so good care should be taken.

The flavor of these cookies is rather complex and surprising. The earthy fruitiness of the red wine syrup and the licorice undertones from the whole cane sugar match very well with the dark chocolate in my opinion. These might not be a crowd-pleaser I would bake for a birthday party,  but I’d be proud to serve these for a small group of friends whose tastes I know well – and definitely to myself on a day when I need a lift of spirits!

The Cookie Dough (makes 10 cookies):

• 1 dl red wine (table wine, but nothing you wouldn’t drink)
• 1 and 1/2 dl whole cane sugar
• 2 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl good cocoa powder (Green & Black’s)
• 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 35 g dark chocolate (70%, to fill the cookies with)

I placed the red wine and the whole cane sugar in a small cooking pan and heated them on medium heat until they started to boil. Then I let the mixture boil until it had thickened into 1 dl of thick syrup, for less than 10 minutes. Boiling the syrup for too long will make it too stiff when it cools – be careful, you don’t want to caramelize the sugar too much.

After reducing it, I poured the syrup in a small mixing bowl, mixed in the canola oil and the vanilla extract, and set it aside to cool down. Then I mixed the dry ingredients (wheat flour through white sugar) in another bowl, and set the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. When the syrup mixture had cooled down – it was still warm but not hot – I poured it in with the dry mix, and stirred with a fork until combined.

I took a small chocolate bar and divided it in 10 pieces. Then I rolled the dough into 10 round balls, and then folded a chocolate piece inside each ball, like so:

Now I placed the cookies on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, flattened them a little bit, and baked them in 175 degrees Celsius for about 8 minutes, when they had spread a bit and the tops looked nice and crackled. This way I got soft cookies with just a little bit of crispiness on the outside – for a thoroughly crispier cookie, 1 to 2 minutes longer should work. After baking them I removed the cookies from the baking sheet to cool on a rack.

I especially love the melted chocolate in the heart of each cookie, so it’s a good idea to serve these warm even on the following days. We also tried a few of these cookies spreaded with some organic raspberry jam that has no added sugar in it, and that was a heavenly match!

I’ve found that using soy yogurt with whole flours somehow improves the texture of the final product. I checked out a few recipes in cookbooks before improvising this recipe, but I think the idea of using tapioca starch definitely lurked into my mind from the Post Punk Kitchen Blog‘s Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from a few weeks back.

The Cookie Dough (20 medium cookies):

• 3 to 3 and 1/2 dl whole wheat flour
• 1 and 1/2 dl walnuts, chopped
• 1 dl canola oil
• 1 dl plain soy yogurt
• 2 dl brown sugar (I used yummy raw sugar from Bolivia)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

First, I whisked together the soy yogurt, canola oil, sugars, and tapioca starch. Actually Heikki helped me with this step when I got tired of whisking – it takes a bit of time until all the sugar is dissolved. Then I combined 3 dl of the whole wheat flour with the baking soda, and Heikki chopped the walnuts. Now, I added the flour mixture to the wet mix bowl, stirred until combined, and added the walnuts. The dough seemed a little too sticky so I added another 1/2 dl of flour, and the dough was ready.

There’s been a lot of talk about refrigerating the cookie dough after an article about perfect cookies appeared in the New York Times, but I didn’t have time for this step. I will try that trick some time soon for sure!

So I just rolled the dough into 20 balls and flattened them with a fork on two cookie sheets covered with baking parchment. Then I baked the cookies one sheet at a time for 8 minutes, until slightly browned on the bottom side. Overbaking makes the cookies dry out, so it’s best to be careful – they didn’t look quite baked enough after eight minutes, but they were!

I wanted to make a chewy cookie, and coconut and currants did give these a very nice chewiness. Somehow there is also a crispy and light dimension to the texture, akin to the caramelized oat biscuits that I baked a while back. The nutmeg sort of took over the taste after a few days in the cookie jar (and the chewiness took over the crispiness as well) so I’d say these are at their most delicious right after baking!

The Cookie Dough:

• 1 dl desiccated coconut
• 1 dl graham (whole wheat) flour
• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons currants
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch each: salt, cinnamon, nutmeg
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 2 tablespoons soy milk

First I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and covered a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Then I mixed all the dry ingredients (coconut through nutmeg) together in a bowl, and then poured in the oil. I mixed until a little combined, and then started adding soy milk until a nice, slightly sticky dough formed.

I placed tablespoon-sized dabs of dough on the cookie sheet, and flattened them a little bit with a fork. These cookies spread out pretty much, but I managed to fit them all on just one baking sheet.

Then I baked my cookies in the pre-heated oven for about 8-9 minutes, and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before removing them with a spatula. These cookies are soft right out of the oven, but crisp up while they cool down.