Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies
Have you guys seen all The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap? Lindsay from Love and Olive Oil and Julie from The Little Kitchen teamed up to organize this huge cookie swap for food bloggers. We each made three dozen cookies and shipped a dozen to three different food bloggers. The best part was that Hubby and I got to try three new kinds of cookies! We loved checking the mail every day to see if there was a new box of cookies waiting for us.
For my contribution, I decided to make these Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies. When Hubby tried one straight from the oven, he thought the ginger taste was too overpowering. After sitting in the fridge for a couple days, the ginger flavor became more subtle. They honestly mellowed out into an amazing flavor combination.
I shipped these cookies off to Peanut Butter and Peppers, Chrysanthemum, and Brave New Food. I hope everyone enjoyed these cookies!
And now on to the good stuff, the cookies that Hubby and I got to enjoy. I totally forgot to take pictures of the cookies, so be sure to click through to each blog to see the photos and recipes. That Skinny Chic Can Bake sent Raspberry White Chocolate Bars. Peanut Butter and Julie sent some Cranberry Lemon Biscotti. And last but not least, Reetsyburger’s Refuge sent some Simple Shortbread cookies.
As a reminder, everyone who participated in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap should email Cookies for Kids Cancer with the number of cookies swapped (3 dozen here) so that Glad can donate $0.10 for each cookie.
Two Years Ago: Mint Brownies
Three Years Ago: Fudge and Cranberry Orange Cookies
Four Years Ago: Easy M&M Treats
Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies
Yield: Makes 2.5 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
7 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tbsp flour
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
Directions:
Line two baking sheets with parchment. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.
In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe from Martha Stewart
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love it! Where did you get the jars? Now I totally wanna do this for xmas gifts!
/Clara
I looked everywhere and just couldn’t find them. I ended up ordering them from Amazon. They weren’t very cheap so that was a bummer…
Ah bummer. What size are the jars? I wonder if Ikea would have them? Whats the amazon link?
/Clara
I ordered them from here. You want the wide mouth jars so the cupcakes fit and the 1/2 pint size is perfect.
The yellow cupcakes didn’t rise much so I added more frosting to fill the jar and the chocolate ones rose quite a bit so they had less frosting. My sister said that the chocolate one had the perfect amount of frosting or could use a smidge more, so you want a cupcake that has at least a small dome.
haha, i’ve never seen that before 🙂 love it!
OH FUN! I’ve seriously always thought about doing this and never did. I’m starring this post to remind myself at Christmas. Too cute!!
I have been dying to try this ever since I saw it last year on someone else’s blog. They actually baked the cake in the jar and then iced it like a cupcake. I am going to have to order some of those iddy jars! Too cute!
Hmmm…might have to do this for Christmas instead of those “ingredients in a jar” thing we were thinking of.
I really want to try this, but I keep reading online that you shouldn’t put frosting in the jar because it will get moldy by the time it reaches its destination. I’m sure you would have heard if it was moldy when it got to your friend right? I would just be so embarrassed if that happened. Any help?
Renee – I’ve done this twice and both times haven’t heard of any mold. I froze the cupcakes/frosting in the jars prior to shipping them. I also shipped in the winter. My one sister even didn’t go get her package from the office until a week after it arrived and it was still good. I would guess she ate her cupcakes about 10 days after I sent them. I’m not sure if shipping in warm weather will have an impact on potential mold…
Alright I’ll definitely give it a try then. It will make for a very good Easter present for my faraway friends =)
Oh that’s a good idea!! I might have to order some more jars and do the same myself…
What a clever idea! I would love to get a cupcake in the mail! 🙂 Maybe I’ll send out Valentine’s Day Cupcakesnext year!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Love these!! We have featured you on our blog. http://cutecupcakesallthetime.blogspot.com
Did you freeze them before shipping? The jars looked frosted…
beantownbaker — February 24th, 2013 @ 10:21 am
I did freeze them. They defrosted as they were shipped. I’ve done it with and without the freezing depending on the weather and whatnot.
What shipping method did you use? Overnight or Express???