Triple-Ginger Chocolate Chunk Cookies
I’m sharing my very favorite holiday recipe. A molasses crinkle was one of the first cookies I learned to bake out of my mother’s cookbooks when I was a kid. This version has all the spicy holiday flavors; lots of ginger (three ways), cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a moist and gooey molasses cookie shot through with rivers of chocolate. People have a hard time resisting these, and it’s the chocolate that sets them apart from a typical molasses spice cookie. I first came up with this winning combo long ago when I was the food editor at Martha Stewart Living, and I have tweaked the recipe over the years, trying to improve it, and succeeding! I like to refrigerate (or freeze) the balls of dough so I can bake these fresh throughout the holidays to bring fresh and warm when visiting friends or attending a party. This is the first sneak peek into my upcoming cookie book, due out in Fall of ’26!
Ingredients
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons/275 g all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon/8g cocoa powder
¾ cup/170 g cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup/146 g packed light or dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 large egg yolks
⅓ cup/105 g unsulphured molasses (like Grandma’s)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces Guittard 70% Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Baking Bar, chopped
1/3 cup/60 g coarsely chopped candied ginger
Granulated sugar, for rolling
Directions
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and cocoa powder in a large bowl. Set aside.
With a stand or hand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the fresh ginger and egg yolks until combined. Add the molasses and vanilla, then add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until no flour pockets remain. Stir in the chocolate and candied ginger. Chill the dough until firm, at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Place some granulated sugar in a bowl for rolling. Pinch off pieces of dough about the size of a golf ball (about 40g), roll into a sphere, and roll in the sugar. Place on a plate and freeze while the oven heats up (about 10 minutes). Roll in the sugar again and place the cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan after 5 minutes, until the tops begin to crack and the edges are just set. Be careful not to overbake. Let the cookies cool briefly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
