Yummy Chocolate Gingersnaps

I love ginger desserts. Gingersnaps, gingerbread...you name it. One of my favorite cookies to buy is Carr's Ginger Lemon Cremes. Yum. And this weekend at Whole Foods I discovered ginger lemon gumdrops, which made my drive back home much happier. So I was delighted that this recipe came up. It's not a fussy recipe, though it involves three kinds of ginger. And the results are fabulous, I think.


Here are my dough balls, on my incredibly messy kitchen counter. Know what I love about this blog? It keeps me too busy to clean!

Here are the baked cookies. See how they spread out all nice and round and perfect? Love that!
The chocolate just kind of rounds out the ginger flavor but definitely doesn't overpower it. You should make these.

Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Gingersnaps

2 c. (8 oz.) sifted flour (I used half whole wheat pastry flour)
1/4 c. (.75 oz.) cocoa powder
1 oz. fresh ginger (Maida says that's a 2-inch by 1-inch piece), peeled and finely grated
6 oz. (1-1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1-1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 scant c. (6.5 oz.) brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. (2.8 oz.) molasses (I used cane syrup, because I live in the South)
1/4 c. (1 oz.) finely diced candied ginger

Heat the oven to 350; line cookie sheets with parchment. Also get out a jelly roll pan and line it with waxed paper. Sift together the cocoa and flour. You can grate the fresh ginger right into the mixing bowl; add the butter, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon, and beat that until fluffy. Gradually add the brown sugar and beat that 2-3 more minutes. Add the egg and molasses and give it another minute or two. On low heat, beat in the flour. When it's incorporated, stir in the candied ginger. Make sure you taste the dough--it's divine.
Now get your paper-lined jelly roll pan and drop teaspoonfuls of dough on it. They can sit right next to each other for now. Maida says you'll get 50 spoonsful; I got about 30. Guess my spoons are bigger than hers; I don't think I ate *that* much cookie dough. Anyway, freeze those for about 10-15 minutes or until they've firmed up a bit. (I bet that you could keep some of the mounds in the freezer if you don't want to bake them all right away--just put them in a Ziploc and don't forget about them. Love having ready-made cookie dough in the freezer!) OK, roll the dough mounds into nice round balls and put them on the cookie sheets, 12 to a sheet. Bake them, two sheets at a time, for about 14 minutes. Let them cool on a rack and store airtight. They do get pretty soft if you don't keep them from humidity, but they're still delicious. Share them or hide them from yourself quickly.