Today it’s a beautiful, sunny day with a temperature of 80ºF.  Not the kind of weather I think about when we are only a few weeks away from Christmas.  Nonetheless, I am trying to put myself in the mood by making some gingerbread cookies.  Last year, I made some Chocolate Ginger Cookies that were the bomb, so this recipe is based off of those.  I only had Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa in the pantry, and I wanted to incorporate the Gingerbread M&M’s I had found.  If you haven’t found these M&Ms yet, check Walmart or Target.  The kids and I loved them.

Instead of using crystallized ginger chips in these cookies, I used fresh ginger.  I also added nutmeg this time around, along with the other spices.

The spices smell so good all together.  I love gingerbread cookies, but not the hard crunchy kind.  Only the soft, chewy ones.

The freshly grated ginger gives the cookies a little extra punch.  I didn’t want to dark chocolate to overtake the flavors of the spices.

If it didn’t have a raw egg in it, I would have eaten the whole bowl of cookie dough before it got to the oven.

Instead, I was good and rolled them up into little balls and coated them in sugar, before placing them on a cookie sheet.

If you can’t find the Gingerbread M&Ms, you can use regular holiday ones.  Just press them gently into the dough, don’t flatten out the cookie to much.  You want to keep them fluffy.

The dark chocolate was a good addition to these. I may even make them with dark chocolate chips next time. You can still taste all the spices.  If I eat a couple of these, then I can start thinking about putting up the Christmas tree.

Chewy Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert snack ginger Gingerbread M&Ms dark chocolate cinnamon Christmas cookie American winter

Ingredients (36 cookies)

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dark molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 bag (9.90 oz.) Gingerbread M&Ms
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar for rolling dough in

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º F.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and cocoa.

In a stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar. Then add the molasses, grated ginger, egg, and milk.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Chill the dough for about an hour. (Or if you are in a hurry , pop it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes)

Then with cookie scoop measure out dough and roll into balls.

Next roll the balls of dough into granulated sugar and place on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Gently press M&Ms into the dough balls without flattening them out too much. (I used three M&Ms per cookie)

Bake 10 minutes at 375º F. Remove from the oven and place on cooling racks until completely cooled. You can eat the remaining M&Ms while you wait!