These Dark Chocolate Cabernet Cookies feature a deep, chocolate flavor with a noticeable hint of red wine.

So just the other day, my wife and I were talking about how well dark chocolate pairs with red wine.  And then I got to thinking...what if I made a cookie that included dark chocolate and red wine?  Red wine in a cookie?  Is that even possible?  Well, the answer is absolutely!  And the result was an amazing cookie with a wonderful chocolate flavor and a hint of red wine.  (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon, but you could use almost any red wine that you happen to have open.  And if you don't have any red wine open, then go open a bottle!)  With Valentine's Day just around the corner, these cookies are certainly a fun option.  After all, they combine chocolate and wine into one delicious bite!

When I went into the kitchen to make these cookies, I'll be honest that I had no clue whether this idea would even work.  In fact, I gave myself about a 1 in 2 chance.  I started with my basic chocolate cookie recipe and went from there.  I knew the dark chocolate chips wouldn't create a problem...but what about adding 1/2 cup of liquid to a cookie recipe?  Cookie dough usually doesn't call for much liquid, so I decided to increase the flour slightly.  I figured the additional flour along with the cocoa powder would help absorb the additional liquid.  Hmm, that sort-of worked.  The finished dough looked like cookie dough...but it was incredibly sticky.  I reduced my chances of success to 1 in 3.

I actually had two pans of cookies made and ready for the oven when I pulled an audible and put it all back in the bowl.  The dough needed more flour.  After the extra flour, it was still a very sticky dough, but I decided to go with it.  Chances of success remained at 1 in 3 at this point.  Once baked, these cookies looked amazing!  They held their shape well and puffed up beautifully, and their texture was almost brownie-like.  Chances of success up to 1 in 2 now.  The only remaining question was how would they taste?

I'm happy to report that after tasting the cookies, the success rate went up to 1 in 1!  The cookies started with a noticeable hint of red wine before the dark chocolate kicked in.  And I didn't find the dark chocolate to be overwhelming.  (I used dark chocolate baking chips but regular cocoa powder.)  I will warn you that the cookie dough is sticky...so sticky that you might think you did something wrong.  It'll be like trying to form balls of dough with a brownie batter.  Just go with it.  The result is well worth it!

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