Name: Chocolate Spice Cookies
Prep time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 1.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting; 3 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder; 0.75 teaspoon kosher salt; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 0.25 teaspoon ground cloves; 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature; 0.75 cup packed light-brown sugar; 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (from a 2-inch piece); 0.5 teaspoon baking soda; 1 large egg, room temperature; 0.667 cup confectioners' sugar; 2 tablespoons Cointreau or strained orange juice, plus more if needed; 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter; Pinch of kosher salt

Chocolate Spice Cookies

Sarah Carey

Updated on November 22, 2019

chocolate spice cookies — Photo: Alpha Smoot

Prep Time:

35 mins

Total Time:

55 mins

Yield:

Believe it or not, the two cookies in this photo share the same delicious ginger-spiced dough. The main recipe will result in a patterned cookie laced with cocoa, embossed with a cookie stamp, and brushed with an orange-butter glaze; head to the variation for a simpler—but no less delicious—version that is packed with chopped semi-sweet chocolate and rolled in sanding sugar for sweet sparkle.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup packed light-brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (from a 2-inch piece)
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg, room temperature

Glaze

⅔ cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons Cointreau or strained orange juice, plus more if needed
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
Pinch of kosher salt

Directions

Cookies: Preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. In a large bowl, beat butter with brown sugar, fresh ginger, and baking soda until creamy. Add egg; beat to combine. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour mixture.
Scoop a scant 1/4 cup of dough (1.75 ounces); roll into a ball. Dust a cookie stamp with flour, tapping out excess. Place dough in center of stamp, then press evenly to cover shape of design. Place, dough-side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet and press until dough is about 1/4 inch thick.
Carefully remove (if it sticks, just gather up dough and start over). Repeat with remaining dough, arranging cookies 2 inches apart. Refrigerate 20 minutes; use a 2 3/4-inch round cutter to trim excess. Bake until firm to the touch, 11 to 13 minutes.
Glaze: Meanwhile, whisk together confectioners' sugar, Cointreau, butter, and salt; glaze should have the consistency of honey. (If too thick, whisk in more Cointreau.) Let cookies cool on sheets on a wire rack 8 minutes, then brush with glaze. Let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Cook's Notes

To create the pattern on the spice cookies, use Nordic Ware Geo Cast stamps, available at Amazon.

Variations

Chocolate-Chunk Spice Cookies (Makes 28)

Omit cocoa powder. Increase flour to 1 2/3 cups, increase brown sugar to 1 cup, and increase butter to 1 1/2 sticks. Beat in 6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) chopped semisweet chocolate at end of step 1. Use a 1 1/2-inch scoop to make balls (about 2 tablespoons). Roll in sanding sugar, then place about 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Bake, rotating sheets once, until cookies are just set but still a little bit soft in center and slightly darker around edges, 12 to 13 minutes. Omit glaze.