In the Mood for Chocolate Cookies

I love chocolate with a capital L and I love cookies. My loves collide with these two chocolate cookie recipes. These are my favorite cookies- the first one has been a favorite for years. I always make them around this time of year and often as a Christmas cookie. Chocolate and spice is one of my favorite flavor combinations and this cookie executes this combo perfectly. If you make only one cookie recipe this season, it really should be this first one.

The second recipe I just discovered last week as I was flipping through my back issues of Martha Stewart Living looking for a picture I never did find. This cookie is so simple- simple to make and calls for simple ingredients I bet you have on hand now. It's full of chocolate flavor and when pulled from the oven at the proper time (I'll tell you exactly when!) is the perfect chewy chocolate cookie.

These cookies lack the chocolate chunks. Just imagine them there. These were still very good, but if at all possible, go out and buy the chunks. They put these cookies over the top.

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies (adapted ever so slightly from Martha Stewart Living magazine, issue unknown)
Makes 2 dozen
You'll want to go ahead and double this recipe. I'm just saying.

7 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks or chips or a bar chopped up
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tbsp. freshly grated ginger (or bottled ginger)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. boiling water
1/4 cup granulated sugar

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cocoa. Set aside. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and grated fresh ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add the brown sugar and beat until combined. Add molasses and beat again. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water. Beat half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, then the soda mixture, then the rest of the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until firm. Once firm, roll dough out into 1 1/2 inch balls and roll them in granulated sugar. Place them on baking sheets covered with parchment paper or coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the top surface begins to crack slightly (this guarantees a chewy cookie!). Dig. In.

Sam took this last suggestion to heart. He stole away with the container and ate the last 10-15 cookies by himself upstairs. The crumbs on the bathroom floor and the corners of his mouth gave him away. I could hardly blame him. He had done what I had been wanting to do all day.


Chewy Chocolate Cookies (adapted ever so slightly from Martha Stewart Living magazine, June 2005, cookie of the month)
Makes about 3 dozen.

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine the first four ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together. Reduce speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture. The cookie dough will be soft. Scoop batter out with a teaspoon and use your (clean) finger to slide dough off and onto cookie sheets covered in parchment paper or coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are flat and their top surface begins to crack (this will create a chewy cookie!).

Surprisingly simple and delicious. Pin It