Can you believe fall is almost over! Where did it go?! It is my absolute favorite season, and always seems to fly by. The cool weather and fall leaves inspire me to bake even more than normal this time of year. A perfect fall day for me is a morning run to see my best horse friend Jackson :), followed by a warm shower, comfy clothes, an almond milk latte and then a whole afternoon of baking (with the Hallmark channel on of course :). My boyfriend hunts quite a bit during the fall which allows me to get my Hallmark channel fix :). I know they’re predictable and corny…but I still love them!
I posted my favorite ginger cookies a couple of months ago by Cooks Illustrated. I will say I think about these cookies often during the fall and winter months. Recently I began brainstorming ways to make one of my all-time favorite cookies even better…so naturally I thought of chocolate!
I made my own take on chocolate ginger cookies, and OMG I am so happy with these! The first trial did not go so well though. My mom tasted my first go around and instantly gave me the “….these are great babe…” look, as she then proceeded to barely pick at the rest of the cookie. In her defense, they were bad and she tried to be nice :). I tested the initial version with melted chocolate, but unfortunately did not work out as planned. The next version came out just as I hoped they would; soft, full of chocolate flavor, but still with enough spice to separate it from your standard chocolate cookie!
I decorated these with pistachio and rose petals because I love the pop of color. If you prefer a different color or flavor feel free to change things around! These would be great with chocolate shavings, other chopped nuts, white chocolate drizzle, etc. You can absolutely roll these in sugar before baking and skip the chocolate drizzle and garnish all together. The cookies will continue to firm up on the baking try after pulling them from the oven, therefore remove them on the slightly underdone side. Just a minute or two can make a big difference in soft versus hard. I did notice they softened up even more when stored in an airtight container for a day or so.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 8-10 minutes
Chill Time 30 minutes
Total Time 60 minutes
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (not dutch process)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup softened butter, unsalted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar or granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 ounces chocolate of choice
• chopped garnishes of choice, or 1/3 cup granulated sugar or rolling
Instructions
1. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, spices and salt over a large bowl. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream softened butter and both sugars together for 1-2 minutes on medium speed.
3. Add molasses and combine again, another 30 seconds.
4. Add eggs one at at time on medium-low speed, scraping down the sides of bowl in between to ensure ingredients combine thoroughly.
5. Add vanilla and combine for another 30 seconds.
6. Add dry ingredients in 3 additions. Mix each addition until flour is just combined. After the final addition, mix dough for another 10 seconds and turn off mixer to avoid over mixing. Finish by running a spatula around the perimeter of bowl, folding inward. This helps incorporate the poorly mixed dough that tends to settle down in the bottom of stand mixer bowls.
7. Cover dough with plastic wrap and place bowl in fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.
9. After 30 minutes, remove dough from fridge and scoop out 2 tablespoons, or a standard size cookie scoop, of dough per cookie. If rolling in sugar do so at this time. Set cookies onto the prepared baking sheet and place into preheated oven. I bake no more than 8 cookies at at time.
10. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. When the cookies are ready they will be just set on the edges, start to crack, and still appear slightly underdone in the center. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack.
11. Allow cookies to cool completely on cooling rack. Melt 4 ounces of chocolate in a double boiler or microwave safe dish. You may add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil for a thinner chocolate drizzle if preferred, I did. After melting, allow chocolate to cool for a couple of minutes. Place melted chocolate into a piping bag and cut a very small opening at end of bag. Be ready to drizzle because it will run out rather quickly considering it is so thin. You also have the option to ditch the piping bag all together and dip a fork or spoon into the melted chocolate. Briskly move the fork or spoon back and forth over 1/3 of the cookie to apple glaze. Follow with your garnishes of choice.
Happy Baking!
