Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies

I wandered into a great used book store the other day as I was supposed to be running errands and making deliveries. Because the bookstore is in a wonderful old Victorian house, there are lots of rooms filled to the ceilings with books in every category you'd need. So when I asked the woman at the desk where the cookbooks were, I knew I'd be in a lot of trouble when she answered me by saying, Oh we have a whole room of cookbooks upstairs in the back.
An entire room to myself ! Filled with an amazing variety of books.

Well, I managed to limit myself to three books and one of them was a book titled, "The Spice Kitchen, Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices." It's a fairly current book, published in 2009.
The recipes all sounded so interesting and I can't wait to try many others like Sweet Heat Brownies, using ancho chili pepper and Lemon Thyme Cornmeal Pound Cake! Yum!

These cookies are dark and chewy and full of the flavor of molasses and if you don't care for bittersweet chocolate , semisweet chocolate would be great also.

So to begin, cream the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl til light and fluffy.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and vanilla.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl.

Add the egg mixture and the molasses to the creamed mixture and beat til combined.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat til combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips...

Then cover the dough and refridgerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat your oven now and scoop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls and roll into balls. ( I didn't roll them all into nice tight balls and some came out in wierd shapes! So be sure to make them into compact balls).

Roll each ball in confectioners' sugar til well coated and place on ungreased baking sheet.( I wasn't sure how the cookies would look after rolling in the confectioners' sugar so I only rolled a few. Turned out I was glad I didn't roll them all because I didn't care for the look of them with the white sugar kind of in splotches on the cookie!).

Bake 12 to 14 minutes, or til centers are set.

Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies ( from " The Spice Kitchen" by Sara Engram and Katie Luber with Kimberly Toqe)

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

12 tbsp. ( 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp.

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar ( I used light brown)
1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups AP flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Confectioners' sugar, for rolling ( opt.)

1. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl til light and fluffy.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and vanilla.

3. Add the egg mixture and the molasses to the creamed butter mixture and beat til combined.

4. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda spices and salt into a medium bowl.

5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat til combined.

6. Stir in the chocolate chips.

7. Cover the dough and refridgerate for at least 2 hours.

8. Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350.

9. Scoop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls and roll into balls.

10. Roll each ball in confectioners' sugar til well coated , ( see my note above).

11. Place balls on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or til centers are set.

12. Allow cookies to cool 2 minutes on baking sheet before removing to wire rack.