Gooey Chocolate Cherry Cookies

It's almost cherry season! I can't wait to pick them. Technically, this recipe doesn't use fresh cherries, but it's as good excuse as any to make them. These are quite similar to the popular chocolate chip cookies, made the American-style way and studded with chewy cherries and chocolate. The batter can be frozen and kept for whenever you may need some cookies on demand.

Gooey chocolate cherry cookies
Prep time: 30 minutes
Serves: 20
Cooking temp:Gas 5, 190C

Cooking time: 12-14 minutes

Ingredients
200g unsalted butter or magerine, softened
85g light muscovado sugar
85g golden caster sugar
1 large egg
225g self-raising flour
50g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
50g white chocolate
85g sour cherries or glace cherries

Method

1. Preheat the oven.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter with the two sugars. Mix in the egg with a large wooden spoon until smooth.
   
3. Chop the chocolate roughly, and the cherries too if they're large. Add the flour, chocolate and cherries to the bowl and stir into to form a cookie dough. This can be frozen.
   
4. Spoon onto a large baking sheets (you'll probably need two) that are lined with baking parchment. You'll be able to make 20 blobs. Make sure they are spaced as they will spread.
5. Bake for 12-14 minutes (or five minutes more from frozen), until they are cooked but still soft in the middle and pale.
   
6. Leave for a few minutes to cool, then lift off with  a fish slice and leave to go cold completely (though you'll probably find they don't all survive the cooling rack...)