Sparkly Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Sparkly chocolate gingerbread cookies are festive and delicious. 

When we were growing up our house was like a commercial bakery leading up to Christmas. Mom made at least a dozen different kinds of cookies, along with Christmas breads, mincemeat, plum pudding, light and dark fruit cake, cherry pound cake and I’m sure many things I have forgotten. By the time Christmas arrived, our 22 cubic foot freezer had to be locked shut it was stuffed so full.

I used to dread being asked to go down to the basement to get something out of the freezer in November and December since it took so much digging to find anything that wasn’t the holiday baking, which we weren’t allowed to touch.

I love the idea of doing oodles of Christmas baking but I rarely manage to bake more than a few different kinds of cookies and Christmas often arrives with unbaked cookie dough still in the fridge.

Many of the cookie that I like to make are a little fiddly (rugelach for example) which is likely part of the problem. But this recipe is simple.

Chocolate gingerbread cookies are festive looking rolled in sugar and dipped in chocolate and they have that wonderful ginger flavour that makes them so perfect for the holidays. The recipe also makes a good amount if you use tablespoon-sized balls of dough.

I stumbled upon this recipe years ago, the night before Christmas holidays began. I was packing up teacher gifts and the recipe looked so delicious that I baked them late into the night so I could share them with my kids’ teachers.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup fancy molasses
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (for rolling)
• 1 cup white or dark chocolate chips, melted (optional)

Instructions:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.
3. In another bowl beat the butter and fresh grated ginger. Add brown sugar and beat until combined. Beat in molasses.
4. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water.
5. Stir half of flour mixture into butter mixture.
6. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture.
7. Mix in chocolate.
8. Chill for four hours or overnight.
9. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls and roll in granulated sugar.
10. Bake at 325 F until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes.
11. Cool and dip in melted chocolate.