Chewy Cherry Ripe Cookies

A friend made these for book club a few months ago.  There were so delicious that I asked for the recipe and have been planning to make them for ages.  Apparently I needed the motivating kick of my vegan apprenticeship to finally do so!

I am not really sure what the etiquette/copyright is of publishing recipes, but I guess it is okay if the original source is acknowledged.  Anyway, this is more for my own records and perhaps no-one else will ever read it.

My friend based his offering on “Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies” on p 234 of Veganomicon by
Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  He morphed the cookies into a cherry ripe version.  Apparently inspired by me telling him that Cherry Ripes have gelatine.  (What!  Cherry Ripes have gelatine!  But why do they have to go ruining something so yummy by including gelatine you may ask?  Beats me!!!)

I stuck pretty closely to my friends version, but upped the cherries a little, and the cherry jam, and downed the sugar.  Result:  YUMMO!  Chocolate craving satisfied!

Ingredients:
16 glacé cherries, chopped into quarters
1/2 cup cherry jam
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon almond essence
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup cocoa
1 & 1/3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup dessicated coconut

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Combine dry ingredients (excluding the sugar)
3. In a separate bowl combine all the "wet" ingredients and the sugar.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients, mixing with a wooden spoon as you go.
5. Roll into walnut sized balls and press down with a fork on a lined baking tray.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool for 10 minute (if you can resist for that long!)