Yea! It is Secret Recipe Club reveal day again. I love when I can introduce you to new people’s blogs and share one of their recipes with you all. Today I am sharing a wonderful recipe that will be appropriate during the holiday crush or anytime of the year. The Artist has declared these “really good” which is high praise from him!!!
This month my SRC Buddy is Lisa from Cook Lisa Cook. I love going to her site because she often has help in the kitchen from her absolutely adorable daughter Maisie (just wait till you see her!). Maisie is such an inspiration that Lisa also writes two other blogs called Moments with Maisie and Maisie Eats Bento. I have trouble just keeping up with The Heritage Cook and can’t imagine having to maintain more than one blog. Brava Lisa!
Lisa and I have a lot in common … Lisa lives in one of my favorite cities in the U.S. – Marietta, Georgia. It is incredibly beautiful there with the nicest people. I spent a lot of time there when I was with IBM. It was where they held many of their week-long training programs. Lisa and I both love a good murder mystery book and with our mutual love of cooking and baking, I know we would get into a lot of trouble if we lived in the same neighborhood!
I had a wonderful time cruising through Lisa’s blog, searching for the perfect recipe to make for you today. I nearly got sidetracked by many including her Mini Ham & Swiss Quiche Cups, Aloo Tiki (Fried Potato Cakes), Oatmeal, Cashew & Chocolate Granola Bars, and Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake. But once I saw her Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, I knew I had a winner that The Artist would love. Make sure you head over to her site and dive into the wonderful world of food and baking that Lisa creates!
These cookies are simple to make and really pack a punch of ginger flavor. They are nicely balanced though, with cinnamon and cloves to give a rounded flavor in each bite. I was a bit skeptical about the chocolate chips, but they were fabulous. I made half the batch with them and half were just ginger cookies (a great alternative for the holidays). Now The Artist is having fun trying to guess which ones have chocolate! He keeps telling me, “I have to have another one because I haven’t found any chocolate ones yet.” I know he’s lying just to sneak another cookie, LOL!
I didn’t have any mini chocolate chips, so I took my normal ones and ran them through the food processor to break them up a little. It worked, but the mini ones would be a lot easier.
I also used the food processor to grind the candied ginger into the sugar for rolling the dough in. It really amps the ginger flavor and the little nubs of candied ginger are perfect for pressing into the tops of the cookies before baking!
Another great thing about this recipe is that you can make the dough, bake off a few cookies and then freeze the rest for baking later. I usually roll it into a log, wrap with parchment paper, write the baking temp and time on the outside, and then seal the whole thing with plastic wrap. That way I don’t have to find the recipe each time we want a few fresh-from-the-oven cookies.
Do yourself and your family a favor and make these cookies THIS WEEK! Yep, they are that good. So good in fact, that I didn’t want to share any with anyone, LOL! And don’t miss all the wonderful recipes below in the blog hop. We have an extremely talented group of bloggers and they always come up with the most amazing recipes!
Have a fabulous week and Happy Chocolate Monday!!
Jane’s Tips and Hints:
Mini chocolate chips really do work better in these cookies and are worth a trip to the store if you don’t already have them. You can also take a regular block of chocolate and chop it finely in place of the chocolate chips.
Gluten-Free Tips:
I made these with my standard gluten-free all-purpose flour blend and they came out perfectly. No other adjustments were needed. If you are baking for Celiacs, make sure your chocolate chips are gluten-free.
- Cookies
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend with xanthan gum*
- 2 tsp baking soda (gluten-free if needed)
- 1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup mild molasses
- 1 large whole egg
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (gluten-free if needed)
- For Rolling
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup candied ginger chunks
- *Add 1/4 tsp xanthan gum if your gluten-free flour blend doesn’t include it
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat, parchment paper, or lightly grease with butter.
- Make the Cookie Dough: Place a wire sieve or basket on a sheet of parchment or in a bowl; add the flour, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Sift onto the paper or into the bowl. Whisk until evenly combined; set aside.
- In the bowl of your standing mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar, molasses and egg. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients and beat until completely incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and beat them in. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- In a food processor, place the 1/2 cup granulated sugar and the candied ginger. Pulse until the ginger is broken down into tiny pieces and starting to be incorporated into the sugar. Transfer to a shallow dish such as a pie plate.
- Using a small cookie scoop form small balls of dough about 1 tbsp each and roll in the sugar & candied ginger mix until thoroughly coated. Press a piece or two of the candied ginger into the top of each cookie dough.
- Place the sugared balls two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you put 9 dough balls on each baking sheet they will have room to spread without touching each other.
- Bake Cookies: Bake at 375ºF for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies have spread to about 2-inches, risen and the tops have cracked. They will feel slightly firm when you gently press the centers. Remove from the oven and let sit on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes. Use a spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Yield: about 48 two-inch cookies
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Thank You!
Amy (Savory Moments)
These cookies look delicious. I always enjoy ginger and chocolate together! I make a similar cookie around Christmas and they are always a hit!
Jane Bonacci
Amy, These are definitely being added to my holiday baking list!
chitchatchomp
Now these look too good to eat – they sound delicious too! 🙂
Jane Bonacci
Too funny – we eat everything I make in this house, thus the expanding waistline, LOL!!
LeAndra
I love crystallized ginger! I’ve seen a few recipes that mix chocolate and ginger recently, but I never really thought of that combo before. I’m looking forward to trying these out.
Jane Bonacci
Give it a go LeAndra, you will love it! We were pleasantly surprised and ate every cookie!!
Wild Child
Ginger is one of my very favorites – in anything! Bread, cake, cookies, savory dishes……I’ll take it all. In January I made some Ginger Cookies with white chocolate chips – unbelievably tasty! Now I must try these with chocolate chips. For, um, comparison purposes LOL
Jane Bonacci
HA HA HA – Now I have to try the ones with white chocolate…for comparison too, LOL!!
Lisa~~
Thank you Jane for all your kind words and I’d bet that we’d get along really well if we were neighbors…but I fear I’d weigh a lot more with the two of us cooking! Glad that the cookies were a hit in your home and love knowing that making them gluten free works so well. Thanks!!
Jane Bonacci
These are a real winner Lisa! The Artist kept trying to find the ones with the chocolate, LOL! We finished them last night and he is already asking for another batch! 🙂
Shelby
Jane, I love the little pieces of ginger in the cookies. My grandmother made soft ginger cookies all the time and I loved them but I also love the chewier cookie. I too was skeptical about ginger and chocolate together but then I made a recipe for a gingerbread cake with chocolate icing from Dorie Greenspan’s book and realized it was very good together!
Jane Bonacci
Shelby – These were surprising, so rich and spicy with the chocolate sneaking up on us like finding a hidden treasure!
Katrina
You’re killing me here. 😉 Chocolate ginger cookies are one of my favorites. AND I just bought some organic brown sugar to “cheat” with sometimes. I have the Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips……I’m totally set here. They look delicious!
Jane Bonacci
Tee Hee – I know, these are really killer cookies! I’m glad you have everything on hand, you NEED to make these Katrina, LOL!
Sweet as Sugar Cookies
Chocolate and ginger go so well together. Those cookies wouldn’t last long in my house.
Jane Bonacci
They aren’t lasting long here either Lisa, LOL!