Dried Fruit Cookies (Soft, Chewy, Easy!)
The smell of dried fruit cookies baking in my kitchen always makes me wonder why it is not a more popular cookie. I use simple ingredients like whole wheat flour, tart dried cherries, and crunchy pecans for these cookies with a soft center, lightly crisp edges, and a naturally sweet flavor.
Servings: 16 cookies
Calories: 199kcal
Equipment
- Electric Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 egg
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½-1 tsp salt use less salt if your dried fruit isn't that sweet or if you prefer less salt in general
- 1 cup pecans mix of chopped and whole
- 1 cup unsweetened dried cherries chopped
Instructions
- Place all the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and milk, and beat to combine thoroughly.
- In a small separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Add half the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, combine fully, then add the remaining half and beat until combined. Do not over mix.
- Stir in the pecans and mixed fruit.
- Use a small cookie scoop to portion out the cookie dough and the refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and remove cookie dough from the fridge.
- Make sure your cookies are spaced 2" apart on a parchment or silicone mat lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool for one minute on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.
Notes
- My #1 Secret Tip for this dried fruit cookie recipe is to chill the dough for a full hour before baking. I never skip this step, since it controls spreading and helps the cookies keep their chunkier shape and chewy texture.
- Soft butter: I always use properly softened butter so that it creams smoothly and traps air for a lighter cookie. Sometimes I soften the butter on its own for a few seconds before adding the sugar.
- Room temperature ingredients: I let all my chilled ingredients come to room temperature before using them. This gives everything a much smoother melding process, which leads to a better texture.
- Even spacing: When laying the dough balls on the baking tray, make sure to leave enough space between each, so the cookies can bake and spread slightly without touching.
- Balanced fruit: I chop larger pieces of dried fruit into smaller portions to help them distribute better throughout the dough.
- Gentle mixing: As soon as the flour disappears, I stop mixing. This is how I keep the cookies tender and avoid overworking the gluten.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 199kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 277mg | Potassium: 88mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 11g