I have been stressed to almost my absolute limit these past couple of weeks, due in part to my little blog here. I don't think I can include details, but it's been enough to make me want to hit the delete button on my entire blog. This place is meant to be therapeutic, but instead an issue has come up out of the blue that has ended up being one of the biggest stressors in my life in years.
So to calm myself down, I chose to bake, and these dark chocolate orange cookies with pieces of candied ginger were born.
I had some candied ginger from Paradise Foods that I received in the mail last week, and I wanted to try to put it to good use. The three main flavors in these cookies - chocolate, orange, and ginger - is a powerful trio.
The cookies get a double load of chocolate from the cocoa powder in the batter and then some dark chocolate chips stirred in at the end. When you get a perfect bite and all of the flavors blow up in your mouth, you'll know you've found pure holiday bliss.
Well, maybe not totally. It's still okay to not be okay, but at least for a moment you enjoyed something delicious and were maybe distracted?
These cookies would be ideal for a holiday cookie exchange if you want to bring something just a little different than the usual prospects. Enjoy!
Print
Dark Chocolate Orange and Candied Ginger Cookies
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: About 43 cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 1 stick plus 2 TBS unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp pure orange extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 6 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped candied ginger (I used Paradise brand)
Instructions
- In a bowl using a hand or stand mixer, cream the room temperature butter with the sugar until totally combined and light in color (give it several minutes of mixing).
- Add the egg and orange extract and continue mixing until fully combined and smooth.
- In a second bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 2-3 additions with the mixer on low, stopping when just a few flour streaks remain.
- Using a non-stick spatula, fold in the chocolate chips and candied ginger. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours OR place in the freezer for about 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F. If you are using AirBake cookie sheets, don't grease them beforehand. For all other types of pans, line with parchment paper and set aside.
- When the dough is chilled, spoon out small amounts and roll them into small balls (mine were somewhere between the size of a walnut and a marble). Place balls at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheet, and return remaining dough to the refrigerator.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies or set. Be careful not to overbake them.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes before attempting to move them to a cooling rack with a spatula.
- Repeat baking steps with remaining dough. Make sure you don't use hot baking sheets for the new batches (I like to put my hot pans outside on a cold day, or you can stick 'em in the fridge or freezer!)
Notes
*To get your cookies to look like the ones in my photos - where the ginger pieces are visible - you will need to press a couple of extra ginger pieces into the dough balls after they have been placed onto the cooking sheet. This step is not required, but they will just look like plain chocolate cookies from the outside otherwise so I didn't want anyone to be surprised by that and thought I should mention it! Happy baking!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
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Thank you for sharing this!