Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

I always forget how much I love gingerbread until the holidays roll around. The funny thing is, like pumpkin puree, I don’t like the smell of molasses. However, it makes one very scrumptious treat!

Now, I’m sure a lot of you are seeing dozens of cookies floating around all the food blogs out there, and I’m not going to be the exception. I love holiday baking, and I’m starting with these awesome cookies.

I came across these chocolate gingerbread cookies while flipping through my holiday cookie edition of Better Homes and Gardens. I couldn’t remember from last year If I liked gingerbread cookies all that much, so I ended up buying (and eating) a package of Pepperidge Farms gingerbread cookies. Once I was reminded how much I lived the flavor of gingerbread, I knew I was going to be making these.

These cookies were real simple to make and even easier to eat. I found myself saying that I would take only two this time, and every time I put my hand in that Santa cookie jar, I pulled out three without fail. I highly suggest making these for a Christmas Cookie Exchange, a gift to family and friends, or even just for the heck of it.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Adapted from BHG 100 Best Cookies 2011

Ingredients
1 stick butter
¾ cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper and set it aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until nice a fluffy looking. Add the baking soda, ginger, allspice, and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in the molasses and egg until combined. Don’t worry about the mixture looking chucky and quite frankly gross-looking, it’s going to turn out ok. Slowly add in the flour. Once all the flour has been mixed in, beat on medium-high for about 30 seconds. Turn the speed back down to medium-slow and beat in the chocolate chips.
3. Using a small cookie scoop, portion out the dough onto the lined cookie tray. Careful not to over crowd them. Bake for about 6-8 minutes, you want the cookies to be soft when they come out of the oven. Place the cookie tray on a cooling rack and cool for about a minute of the tray. Take the cookies off the tray and place them on the cooling rack for the duration of the cooling process.