Forget Fruitcakes! It's All About Fruit Cookies

With the holiday season upon us, it’s time to get back into the kitchen, flour up our counters and get baking! The usual seasonal treats come in many forms: fudge, cakes, candies, cookies and pies. And those usual treats come in the usual flavors: pecan, chocolate, peppermint, persimmon. Not this year.

The pomegranate is one of my favorite fruits. It’s got to be good given how hard it is to extract the seeds (Learn how to ). The arils of the pomegranate usually are an afterthought—they get thrown in a salad or thrown on top of cheesecake. Or they’re in savory dinners, like stuffed chicken with goat cheese or lamb. But I decided to incorporate pomegranates, which are seen everywhere at the market, in a holiday dessert.

These cookies have some holiday color (red and white) but have the fudgy goodness that a holiday treat needs. Make these for your next potluck or for Thanksgiving or Christmas. They’re easy and delicious—almost a mix between a brownie and cookie, perfect for the indecisive.

Break open a pomegranate and get baking! If you’ve got some leftover pomegranate seeds, try making with the juice. Happy baking!

Pomegranate Fudge Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks and Walnuts

Ingredients

• 1 stick of butter, room temp.
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. pomegranate juice
• 1 cup white chocolate chunks (take one baking bar and coarsely chop it)
• ½ cup pomegranate seeds
• ¼ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Bake Away

1. Cream the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment until fluffy
2. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt. Mix until dough is formed.
3. Add the pomegranate juice and mix again, until incorporated.
4. Fold in the white chocolate chunks and the walnuts.
5. Carefully fold in the pomegranate seeds. You might pop some open—it’s ok!
6. Refrigerate the dough for about 2 hours before baking.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
8. Roll dough into balls (they don’t have to be perfect) and bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on your oven.

Tips and Variations

• Use parchment paper or a silpat (a silicone baking mat) for your cookies instead of cooking spray. Parchment paper is easiest—no cleaning involved!
• Let your cookies sit for a minute on the hot pan, then carefully slide off with a spatula and set on a cooling rack.
• Wear gloves when you roll the cookies in case some of the arils pop.
• Replace the walnuts with pecans to make it more of a “holiday” cookie.
• Make your favorite chocolate chip cookie and add pomegranates to it.
• Measure out your ½ cup of pomegranate seeds, then juice the rest. I just use coffee filters to squeeze out the juice, without getting any seeds into my measuring cup or spoons.
• If you have leftover arils (you will), throw them in salads, toss with pasta or mix into a fruit salad.
• Make it double fudge and use dark chocolate chunks instead of white.