Double Chocolate Pomegranate Cookies

From Dana Made It

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter–don’t use margarine

1/2 Cup Vegetable Shortening–you can substitute more butter or Coconut Shortening here but shortening gives cookies a flaky crisp

3/4 cups White Sugar
3/4 cups Brown Sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla

2 cups Flour
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt

2 to 2 1/2 cups choc chips–appx 1 bag of chips. (I prefer mixing 1/2 bag of semi-sweet and 1/2 bag of milk chips)
1 cup pomegranate arils (those red seeds. 1 Pomegranate is more than enough)

In a Kitchenaid mixer (or in a bowl with a handmixer) cream together the butter, shortening, 2 sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Beat the mixture on medium-high for a full 3 minutes–this is important. During that time you’ll watch the chemistry of the ingredients change into a very creamy mixture.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine it with the butter mixture and mix till everything is incorporated.

Then comes my favorite part…
Add the pomegranate arils and chocolate chips. In my opinion, more chips is better than less. So I add about 2 1/2 cups of chips (or 1 bag of chips). And I prefer using a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chips. Dump in the chips and arils and mix briefly to incorporate everything. A few seeds may burst while mixing but that’s fine.

Scoop the dough into 15 small balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes (10 mins was perfect in my oven). And you have tasty rich cookies!

Notes from Jill's Kitchen: What can I say about these little pieces of manna? Everyone who has ever tried these loves them. Everyone. And 97% of the people who try them demand that I give them the recipe. To say that these cookies are a success is the understatement of the decade, dudes.

Update 4/16: I do not make these nearly often enough, as pomegranates are not the easiest food to obtain and prep, but I was in a chocolate mood tonight, so I made them with 3 kinds of chocolate chips (milk, dark, white) instead of pomegranate. Sure, they aren't as exotic, but they are still as delicious! Think Subway double-chocolate chip cookies. Perfection.