About three weeks ago, I was wandering around Macy's looking for some stocking stuffers for Jeff. We tend to give each other kitchen gadgets as we do "love" to cook. I was roaming through a section of Martha Stewart kitchenware when I came across a few gadgets as well as a Martha Stewart pamphlet with cookie recipes. Inside was a recipe for Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies. The picture of the cookies looked delicious so I thought I would try them and see how they tasted.
I had every intention of finding a molasses style ginger snap (for the 12 Cookies of Christmas) and thought I had the perfect recipe. Jeff's mother had made these incredible ginger snaps which I thought were better than my Ruby Warner's Ginger Snaps. They were a little more crispy and had a great spicy flavor. I looked up the recipe and they were IDENTICAL. The only difference is that I used butter and she used shortening (like Crisco). Since I couldn't use the ginger snap recipe, this seemed like a best bet.
As I was making the cookies, I did notice that there were no eggs. Thinking there could be an error, I looked the recipe up on-line and discovered that there were a few recommendations about the cookies. One was to refrigerate the cookies in a log fashion and then slice them like a sugar cookie and dip them in sugar. This was a great idea because it meant less work and the cookies were pretty much guaranteed to look like photo.
These cookies are gingery with a nice finish of chocolate. I liked thembecause the chocolate was not overbearing, keeping this more gingery than chocolatey. This is a great cookie to use as a light dessert after dinner or a quick sweet pick-me-up in the afternoon with a cup of tea. Sweet, yet not overpowering. They have been a two thumbs up at our house this week.
Try them for New Year's and enjoy!
Ingredients
7 ounces of best-quality semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon of unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) of unsalted butter
1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup of dark-brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup of unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 cup of granulated sugar for dipping cookies
Preparation
Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes.
Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.
In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture.
Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap.
Roll into a log approximately 12 inches long and 2 inches in diameter, seal with plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Slice dough in 1/2 inch slices and dip in granulated sugar.
Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
