Mix Dry Ingredients

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl if you will be kneading by hand), place the flour, brown sugar, yeast, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk together.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the coffee, butter and the egg yolk.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stir until combined. It should form a loose dough. 
4. If kneading with a dough hook, fit the dough hook to your mixer, and knead for 7-8 minutes until smooth and elastic, working in the remaining 1/2 cup flour, as necessary. Then add the chocolate chips and cherries and knead an additional minute.
5. If kneading by hand, sprinkle the additional 1/2 cup flour, plus a little more, across a board or countertop. Place the un-kneaded dough on the flour, and knead about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Knead in the chocolate chips and cherries.
6. Shape the dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl, turning the ball over so the top of the ball is oiled. Cover and place in a warm spot (85-90 degrees if possible) until dough is doubled in size – about 90 minutes – 2 hours.
7. Punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 2 evenly sized balls, then flatten to disks. Cut each disk in half, then each half disk into 3 equal parts, for a total of 12 portions. Form each portion into a tight ball, by pressing each portion into a round, then folding edges under and and/or rolling in your hands to form a tight ball. Place the 12 balls over 2 parchment-lined ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each ball. Cover and let rise in a warm spot, until balls are doubled in size, or about 1 hour.
8. Preheat oven to 375 for Convection, or 400 for Conventional oven. Beat the reserved egg white with 1 Tbsp water, and brush egg wash over each ball. Using a serrated knife, cut a shallow  “X” over the top of each, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar, if desired. 
9. Bake 16-20 minutes, until the rolls are crusty. At around 15 minutes, look at the rolls to determine if they are beginning to burn around the edges. If so, loosely cover with foil until the end of baking time. In my oven, the rolls took about 19 minutes. Cool rolls on a wire rack. Serve with butter, if desired.