Possessed

Well I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to talk about it again. This chocolate and ginger thing is almost all I can think about. I may very well be suffering some form of addiction. Not only have I been making several different kinds of chocolate gingerbread cookies for Christmas, it's beginning to affect other areas of my life.

There I was, innocently mixing up a batch of baked oatmeal (what we eat daily for breakfast) just like I do every few days and all of a sudden I was possessed by some chocolate-ginger entity (Yes, I just watched the new Star Trek movie. And, yes, I'm a nerd. And, yes, the movie is awesome.) that forced me to reach into the cabinet and add a teaspoon of ginger, a 1/3 cup cocoa and a 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips to the oatmeal. To our breakfast! Me! Feeding our children chocolate baked oatmeal for breakfast!

I was appalled at myself. I really was, well...I was until I tasted the warm, fresh-from-the-oven chocolate-ginger oatmeal. Then I became possessed all over again and searched through my archives until I found this recipe that I knew was in some magazine somewhere.

So, go on. Go ahead and shake your head in disappointment. I probably would if I were you. Either that or prepare to become possessed yourself... come on in, the water is fine.

Chocolate Gingerbread Men (adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, November 2004)
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
The dough needs to chill a bit before rolling out.

3 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1/2 cup dark unsulfered molasses
1 tbsp. bottled ginger
sanding sugar or edible glitter, for sprinkling

Whisk together ingredients flour through baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add egg, molasses, and bottled ginger, mixing until combined. Add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated. Refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours. Or, if you wish to roll out cookies sooner, divide dough in half and place each half on a large sheet of plastic wrap. Cover it with wrap and press it until it is about an inch thick. Refrigerate the halves this way and you can chill them for just an hour.

Flour your counter top and turn out the chilled dough. Roll the dough to 1/4 in thickness and cut out your cookies using a gingerbread man cookie cutter or any cutters you choose.

My little chocolate-ginger elf.

If you find the dough is too sticky, add several tablespoons of flour to the dough and knead it until combined and try again. Repeat this until the dough is easier to work with. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or coated with cooking spray an inch apart. Sprinkle them with dusting sugar or edible glitter (I used glitter made from egg whites).


Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. If you can avoid over baking them, you'll be left with soft cookies.

Simple. Lovely. Delicious.