The kids and I made these incredible cookies for my ever-loving husband, Mike, who said, “Whoa! These are amazing!”
Me: Oh, yeah? Thanks! Is this the kind of cookie you like?
Mike: Yeah! I had no idea you knew how to make a cookie like this.
Me: You mean really chewy and crispy? That’s just not my favorite style…
Mike: And all this time I thought you just hadn’t figured it out…
Me: ???
Mike: …how to make a good cookie…
True love, ladies and gentleman…true love.
What I love about my husband, and our marriage, is that we don’t take things too seriously…or else we take things REALLY seriously. Anyone who knows us knows how true this is…either we are crazy goofballs or all business, there is not much in between. So, here were are celebrating our first Valentine’s Day in China (not counting the Qixi Festival, aka, Chinese Valentine’s Day, that is…), two serious goofballs who found each other and now have 3 mini-goofballs of our own…man, we are a band of crazy people, I tell you.
So we decided to make cookies for the special occasion. Although, literally any day is special enough to make cookies with my kids.
(By the way…I have been working on a Top Secret Chocolate Chip cookie recipe that I will reveal in due time, so there has been an inordinate amount of cookies in this house. I tend to shove them at anyone who will eat them, and so far the feedback has been very positive, so stay tuned.)
Last year I made incredibly rich, decadent raspberry caramel and dark chocolate ganache fudge brownies, and if you have a lot of time on your hands – I urge you to try the recipe…one of the best things I’ve ever made and tasted, period.
However, if you are short on time, but still want to surprise your sweetie with something uniquely delicious and are feeling adventurous – give these gingery-sweet-and-spicy cookies a try! You will not be disappointed!
I halved the amount of cayenne for the kids’ sakes, and the fresh ginger adds plenty of zing, as well as a unique fresh taste you don’t get with your average cookie. The flavor of these cookies is really unique – I have never had anything like them! They are super chocolatey, chewy on the inside, and just crisp enough on the outside as long as you take care not to burn them.
Brushing the cookies with sugar glaze so the sprinkles will stick!
Pro-cooking-with-kids-tip of the day:
When in doubt, bring the sprinkles. Your children will literally help you cook anything- if they know, at some point, sprinkles will be involved.
In fact, you can just go ahead and call all your spices “sprinkles”…”herb sprinkles” “seed sprinkles” “spice sprinkles”. Anything that comes in a jar and can be sprinkled is magic for kids!
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 cup cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (half if you are worried about spice for the kids)
- 1 cup chocolate chips or chunks
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup canola oil (or oil of choice, grapeseed, sunflower, melted coconut oil)
- 3 TBSP freshly grated ginger
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
- Optional:
- Coarse salt and/or sugar for sprinkling on top
- Optional sugar glaze (if adding colored sprinkles)
- Sugar glaze
- 1 TBSP water
- 2 TBSP powdered sugar
- Sprinkles
- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C)
- Prep your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and cayenne.
- In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, brown and white sugars, oil, ginger, and vanilla together.
- Add dry ingredients and stir until combined - the dough will be very sticky which is what you want - this is what makes them spread out and get nice and chewy.
- Gather the dough into balls about the size of a small scoop of ice cream - I always measure out my cookies, and these were about 3.25 ounces each.
- Bake 9-11 minutes, or until you see the cookies start to crack, you want them a bit crisp on the outside and edges, but still fudgey and chewy in the middle.
- While the cookies cool slightly, mix the water and powdered sugar to create your glaze. Use a pastry brush or very lightly drizzle a bit of the glaze over the top of the cookie and then sprinkle with your choice of coarse salt, or sprinkles. Let the glaze and cookies completely cool and harden before eating. Store in an airtight bag or container - and these should keep for about 3 days.