I think cherries and cacao nibs go very well together, but I wonder if the nibs would make slicing the dough a little difficult. Since you already made a batch with cocoa and nibs did you find they sliced easily enough?

Can you use coconut flour for your son or is that in the "nut" category?

I've also found using a few mini-chocolate chips in a recipe, instead of regular chocolate chips, will give you the taste of chocolate without over indulging and racking up a lot of carbs. Another thing I do is to make a small cookie and press one of the larger Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate into the top of a cookie.

-Grainlady

I think it depends on your audience. Since you already have chocolate cookies with cocoa nibs. Are they the kind of people who would pour chocolate syrup on their morning cereal if they could get away with it? That is, is every flavor pale unless it includes chocolate? If so, then add the nibs. Chocolate and cherries go together well.

My own approach would be to differentiate the cookie flavors as much as possible. Since you're dealing with a toddler, you can't venture into nut aligned, but are seeds okay? You could toast some cooked quinoa (to dry it out and make it crunchy) with some cloves. Or toast and chop up some pepitas. Either would go well with cherries and add some snappier texture without repeating the cocoa nibs.

I just tasted my cocoa nibs and think they would be great with cherries. Mine are roasted and quite small and flaky. I also have roasted carob nibs. I like that recipe! Perfect for those of use pressed for time. In the comment section someone suggest using a cut lengthwise paper towel roll for keeping and shaping nice and round. Good for freezing.

I like the parmesan and pepper biscotti on the site. Might have to try that...(with a bit of cayenne or hot pepper flakes)

Uh oh...I just chopped up the cherries and they taste like raisins. I don't think raisin is a good flavor for this cookie so I'll make the lemon/poppy seed option.

Thanks to everyone for your speedy advice...I truly appreciate it.

grainlady: The cocoa nibs caused no problems slicing the cookies. They are fun in this recipe providing little crunchy bursts of flavor. I plan to try my hand at baking with coconut flour but after the holidays. I've read good things about those recipes.

sleevendog: I've tried to shape this dough into nice round logs but always fail. So I just make square logs and square cookies.

When I find dried cherries that taste like cherries, I'll revisit making this recipe.

Have you tried soaking them? Sometimes that helps.

Incidentally, if you're near a Trader Joe's, their dried Montmorency cherries are great and not expensive.

I soak my dried cherries in a little Swanson Organic Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate to boost the cherry flavor.

-Grainlady

I'll try soaking them but am not too hopeful. I've had dried cherries in a variety of trail mixes and they definitely tasted like cherries, not raisins. Maybe not being sweetened might be the problem with these cherries? I'll look for the Montmorency cherries at TJs next time I'm there.

BTW, if you make the cocoa ones slice them on the thin side as they seem to be drier than the other variations...think mouthful of soda crackers dry! But they sure do taste good!