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The Batter Thickens

A food blog balancing sweet treats & healthy eats.

Frosted Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

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It’s Christmas cookie season!! I’m always torn between making the classics and wanting to try a bunch of different kinds. I will of course get around to making the classics this year. But I’ve got to sneak in a few new ones as well! You never know when you’ll hit on a new classic. And of course, I’m an always looking for a reason to do another riff on those classic sugar cookies that have spawned so many iterations. These Chocolate Gingerbread ones were just asking to be made. Frankly, I’m amazed it took this long.

There’s corn syrup in the original recipe, so of course I substituted molasses. I already had a chocolate version, so then I just had to add the spices to them. Bada-bing, bada-boom. The recipe practically made itself. It was asking to be made. And who am I to deny when the recipe muses call to me in so blatant a manner?

Also just look at these cookies. With the sprinkles? So festive. Also, the easiest way to decorate Christmas cookies. Obviously, I love to use frosting to decorate the shaped cookies just as much as any baker. But frankly, I’m not great at it. And I always reach a limit where I get frustrated, because I’m tired or the vision in my head versus reality do not match.

But covering some sprinkles in festive sprinkles? That’s easy. That takes two seconds. You literally just drop the cookie face down into a bowl of sprinkles. It is, once again, just asking to be done. And then they look great afterwards.

Also… I’m usually not a sprinkle person, but on these cookies, and around the holidays. Suddenly I’m of the opinion that these cookies just aren’t the same without sprinkles. The crunch, the look, I don’t know. You can judge for yourself. But I say the sprinkles are a must.

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Frosted Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

  • Author: Audrey
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Ingredients

For the Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies:

  • 1 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/3 cups milk powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cream of tartar
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the vanilla frosting

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla powder
  • 3 to 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Topping:

  • Festive sprinkles

Instructions

Make the sugar cookies:

  1. Combine the butter, sugar and molasses in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides, add in the eggs and beat for 7-8 minutes.
  2. Reduce mixer speed to low and add in the flour, cocoa powder, milk powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix just until the dough comes together – no longer than 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  3. Using a 2 3/4 oz. ice cream scoop (1/3 cup measure) portion out the dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet – you should get 15-20 large balls of dough. Pat the tops of the cookie balls flat – wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 1 week. Do not bake the cookies from room temp – they will not bake properly!
  4. Heat the oven to 350°F. Arrange the chilled dough at least 4 inches apart on the baking sheet and bake for 18 minutes – the cookies will puff, crackle and spread. The cookies should look lightly browned on the edges (golden brown on the bottom) – the centers will show just the beginning signs of color. If they haven’t reached that color yet, leave them in a for an extra minute or two. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pans before frosting.

Make the frosting:

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft, about 1 minute.
  2. Add 2 cups of the confectioners’ sugar, the salt, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until the sugar is well incorporated.
  3. Add another 2 cups sugar and the cream. Add remaining 2 cups of sugar as needed to thicken the frosting. Beat on medium speed until the frosting is smooth and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
  4. Frost cookies generously. Fill a bowl with sprinkles. Place cookies frosting side down into bowl of sprinkles and press firmly to coat.

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