We know what you’re probably thinking: Poppy seeds? In a cookie?? It’s true that we’d previously only seen poppy seeds on bagels and in muffins, and we were a little skeptical about how these cookies would come out. They were a hit at Cyril’s office, though, so we’ll take that as a rousing endorsement – and we enjoyed them too. Of course it helps that there’s also chocolate in these cookies, along with the sweetness of dried cranberries: overall, there’s a lot of different flavors wrapped up in these treats, and they were an interesting diversion from your typical cookies. We made these from a New York Times recipe, and we think you’ll like their uniqueness.
To make them, you’ll need:
- Flour
- Rye flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Butter
- Sugar
- Brown sugar
- An egg
- Poppy seeds
- Dried cranberries
- A 4-ounce bar of chocolate
You can start making your dough by whisking together a cup of rye flour, 1/2 cup of regular flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and a large pinch of salt.
Next, take 10 tablespoons of butter (that should be one whole stick and 1/4 of another) and place them in a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar.
Beat everything together on a medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the butter is whipped and the sugars are blended in. Add your egg and mix that in too for another 2 minutes.
Then pour in your whisked flours and blend everything together on a low speed just until you have a smooth dough.
While the mixer is running, roughly chop up your chocolate bar.
Add the chocolate in, plus 2/3 cup of cranberries.
Use a spoon or a rubber spatula to stir everything together, and then you have your cookie dough!
Now divide the dough into 15 pieces and roll each in your hands into a ball. Place these on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, spaced pretty far apart (we did 6 to a sheet) and refrigerate the dough balls for at least an hour so they firm up.
When you’re ready to finish your cookies, heat your oven to 425°F and bake for 10 minutes. Take the sheets out of the oven and use the bottom of a glass to gently squish down each cookie. Leave them sitting for a few minutes, then use a spatula to scoop them up and place them on a plate to fully cool.
And here are your finished cookies:
Of course these cookies are delicious, but aren’t they interesting looking as well? The poppy seeds give them a distinctive texture, and the chocolate in chunks melts very nicely to make the cookies all gooey and warm. The cranberries, too, form a different kind of sweet taste, and using rye flour alongside regular flour also adds in something different. These definitely aren’t your normal cookies, but people seemed to like them – and we’re sure you will too.