With their sparkly, crinkly tops and super soft chew, these chocolate ginger sparkle cookies are as delicious to eat as they are beautiful to behold. Dip these spiced cocoa molasses cookies in dark chocolate, and finish each with finely chopped crystallized ginger for extra flavor.
This cookie recipe was, quite simply, a JOY to create. It only took a couple of test batches to get it right, and how often does that happen? (The answer is: not nearly often enough.) The flavors of chocolate, ginger, and molasses come together so perfectly—an underrated flavor trio!
This is a classic drop cookie dough that comes together with basic ingredients. Pick up a few holiday baking spices like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves—all ingredients you need for a batch of gingerbread oatmeal cookies, too!
Here Are the Ingredients You Need & Why
- Flour: All-purpose flour provides the main structure in this cookie dough.
- Cocoa Powder: We’re adding just enough cocoa powder to the dough to give it a chocolatey flavor, while still letting the other flavors come through. Don’t expect a fudgy chocolate flavor like a batch of chocolate crinkle cookies; it’s mild here.
- Baking Soda: A touch of extra baking soda helps the cookies puff up in the oven, then fall and develop that crinkly texture when they cool..
- Spices: This careful blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves is exactly what every molasses cookie needs! Fresh grated ginger is too strong for these cookies—in testing, we found that its sharp flavor overpowered the chocolate.
- Salt: To balance the sweetness.
- Butter: Creamed butter forms the base of these soft cookies.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is what helps produce the softest cookie ever. You can use light or dark brown sugar, but I like using dark for the extra molasses flavor it provides.
- Molasses: Make sure you’re using a dark molasses, aka “robust” molasses, but avoid blackstrap, which is too intense.
- Egg: For structure and richness.
- Vanilla Extract: Feel free to use homemade vanilla extract in these cookies.
- Granulated Sugar: To coat the dough balls before baking. Sweetness and sparkle!
- Chocolate: Melt chocolate once the cookies are cool, and dip or drizzle to take the chocolate-ginger flavor to the next level.
Plus, an optional garnish: Finely chop candied ginger for a dazzling (and flavorful!) finishing touch. I love using crystallized ginger in baking for that unexpected sweet-yet-spicy flavor, like in these lemon ginger cookies and this ginger pear galette.
Like many cookie doughs prepared with molasses (looking at you, gingerbread cookies) this is a sticky dough mixture and must chill in the refrigerator before you shape it into balls:
It solidifies after a 2-hour nap in the refrigerator, and a cookie scoop makes portioning the dough really easy. Use about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, roll into a ball, and then coat generously in granulated sugar just as if you were making a batch of peanut butter blossoms.
Arrange 9–12 cookie dough balls on a lined baking sheet. If you’re shopping for new baking supplies, I use and love these baking sheets.
The cookies will puff up in the oven from all the baking soda, and then fall as they cool. The rising and falling helps create those beautiful crinkles. Some will have more cracks than others.
Don’t Forget the Chocolate Dip!
These neapolitan cookies and pinwheel cookies will tell you… a chocolate dip is the best finishing touch.
Once the chocolate has set, the cookies can be stacked, stored, transported, or gifted.
Can I use white chocolate instead? Absolutely! White chocolate is another delicious pairing with ginger, like in these soft white chocolate chip molasses cookies.
3 Success Tips for Perfect Chocolate Ginger Cookies
Chocolate Ginger Cookies Recipe
Description
Perfectly spiced cocoa ginger molasses cookies come together with basic baking ingredients, and taste even better after a dip in melted chocolate. The cookies will puff up in the oven from the baking soda, and then fall as they cool. Some will have more crinkles and cracks than others.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt together in a medium bowl until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the molasses, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. The mixture may look a bit curdled; that’s ok.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Dough will be thick and sticky. Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is imperative for this sticky cookie dough.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 2 hours, let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. The cookies may not spread in the oven if the dough is that cold. Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons (30g) of dough each (I use this medium cookie scoop). Roll each in granulated sugar and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake cookies for 12 minutes or until edges appear set.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- When the cookies are cooled, melt the chopped chocolate, either in a double boiler or use the microwave. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring after each until completely melted. Dip half of each cooled cookie into the chocolate, and use any leftover chocolate to drizzle on top, if desired. Sprinkle chopped crystallized ginger on chocolate.
- Allow chocolate to completely set at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
- Cover leftover cookies tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
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