chocolate chip ginger cookies

chocolate chip ginger-molasses cookies

recipe via orangette

makes 36 cookies

{ingredients}:

.: 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

.: 2 ½ tsp. ground ginger

.: 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
.: ½ tsp. ground allspice
.: 2 tsp. baking soda
.: ¾ tsp. salt
.: 1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
.: ½ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
.: ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.
.: ¼ cup vegetable oil
.: ½ cup granulated sugar
.: ½ cup packed brown sugar
.: 1 large egg
.: ¼ cup unsulphured molasses
.: ½ cup sugar, for rolling

{directions}:

1. in a medium bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, & salt. whisk well. add the chocolate chips & crystallized ginger, and whisk to blend. set aside.

2. in a large bowl (preferably, a stand mixer) beat the butter & shortening briefly to soften them. add the sugars, and beat until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. add the egg & the molasses, and beat to blend well, scraping down the sides as needed. add the flour mixture in two parts, beating briefly after each until the flour is just absorbed. do not overmix. use a rubber spatula to give the dough a final stir if necessary; it will be quite firm and stiff. cover the bowl, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

3. preheat the oven to 350 F. line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners. pour the sugar into a small bowl.

4. using damp hands, pinch off blobs of dough and roll them into 1 ¼- to 1 ½-inch balls. roll each ball in sugar to coat. place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. roll only as many balls as you can fit on the sheet pans, and cover and refrigerate the remaining dough. 

5. bake the cookies until they are cracked on top but still soft to the touch, about 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. cool on the sheets for 1 minute; then carefully transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

it's been awhile since i made ginger cookies and last time, it was a combination of ginger and apricot but this time, i wanted to try a new recipe with a slightly different combo like ginger and chocolate chip for instance and the result was fabulous. i'd never thought of putting these two mixtures together in a cookie and surprisingly they paired up very well.