I was so excited to participate in the first ever Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, hosted by Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen.  It was fairly simple, I made and sent a dozen cookies to three participants and three other food bloggers sent a dozen to me!  Pretty easy, once I was finally able to decide on which cookies to send!!   Convinced by Sir Wes, I picked his favorite, Martha Stewart’s Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookie, these little guys have a lot of punch and are delicious! 

The kick in these cookies warm you up!

 They don’t last long in our house!!  If you prefer a lighter ginger flavor, you can cut the fresh ginger by half!

Chocolate Ginger Cookies Mise En Place!

Ingredients

• 7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate chunks
• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (cut by half if you want a mild ginger kick)
• 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  

  Little Balls of Dough, dropped in sugar before baking.

Directions

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.
3. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.
4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
   

   Warm and Decadent! Packed with Punch!

We look forward to these cookies all year! 

Sir Wes says these cookies "Have moves like Jagger!"

To ship cookies, check out this link, which offers great tips to keep your little gems safe and sound.  I packed up my cookies with plenty of cushion, using tissue paper and filler from the paper shredder. 

Ready to be shipped across the country!

Many thanks to Lindsay and Julie, the hosts of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, who spent many hours orchestrating  food bloggers across the world!!!  I hope  Also, the cookies I received from Kate, Eleana and Mackenzie were sinfully delicious, just amazing!!  If you would like to partipate next year in the swap, sign up for notifications here!

Let the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies begin!!!!