I don’t know who decides to rip up most of the flooring on their main floor two weeks BEFORE Christmas…Crazy people…
But we did because it was the best time that worked for us so we didn’t have to wait until the new year. I am putting an office/craft room in our dining room since we rarely use that room and it is some prime real estate. So we have been crazy busy in addition to all the Christmas business. But I am really excited! I will share some pictures here soon.
So…Christmas baking has not been happening around here. As soon as we got most of the house put back together I knew I needed to get my bake on. The first thing I made were these DELICIOUS Chocolate Gingerbread Men. I have been wanting to try a chocolate gingerbread recipe since last year seeing as how I have an addiction to gingerbread this time of year…and you can never have enough chocolate. And, I have to say…I really enjoyed these…maybe a little too much…{ahem}!!
I used a recipe I found from Ghirardelli.
Chocolate Gingerbread Men
Recipe from Ghirardelli.com
Yield: 40 cookies
Ingredients:
2 ounces Semi-Sweet Baking Bar
1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
Directions:
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the molasses, egg, and melted chocolate and continue beating on medium speed for an additional 2 minutes. On low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Transfer the dough to a flat surface and flatten into a disk. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least hour, or up to 5 days.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Divide the chilled dough into four equal quarters, leaving three quarters in the refrigerator. Lightly flour a flat work surface and roll out one piece of dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Using a small (2 to 2 1/2 –inch) gingerbread man or woman cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as possible. Place the cookies on the prepared cookie sheets, about 1 inch apart. Gather all the dough scraps into a ball and place in the refrigerator. Take out another quarter of the dough, and continue rolling out the dough and cutting cookies until all the dough has been used. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly raised. Using a spatula, remove the cookies from the cookie sheets, transferring to a wire rack to cool.
These cookies are so full of flavor and I like how they had just a nice amount of softness and chewiness to them. No need to add a lot of extra frosting to them. Just a few buttons to dress him up a bit should do the trick. Plus…it is a lot faster that way.
Take these to your next holiday party or gobble them up with a tall glass of cold milk.
And can you even believe that there are only 6 more sleeps till Christmas? I have a few last minute items to finish up this week and then should be ready to celebrate! I LOVE this time of year! Now we just need it to snow!
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Ammie Barbee says
Oh my! Thank you for the recipe! I can’t wait to try this and I have been looking for the “perfect” gingerbread recipe.
By the way, I once again gave away monogrammed soap bottles from you blog last year. It was a huge hit last year with our family members, friends, and my son’s teachers. I gave away more this year to our daughter’s teachers and my son’s new teacher this year and they LOVED them! They kept raving about how neat the bottles were and couldn’t believe that I made them! Thank you for the tips!!!
Amy says
I am so glad to hear that. They are so easy to make but make a great and practical gift. So glad your friends and everyone loved them :) I am also glad you took the time to come here and let me know! Have a great holiday season!
Yum!!! These look amazing. Can’t wait to try.
Thanks Carol! I hope you can make them and enjoy them too! Thanks for the comment.
What a great recipe….these images are so gorgeous! Happy Holidays!!!
These look delish! Could you use semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the baking bar? That’s all I have and I want to save a trip to the store.
I’m making these right now! they look delicious and like the perfect cookie to leave for santa. they are chilling in the fridge– but i’m worried that i made them wrong. my dough is REALLY dry. i hope that after they chill, i will be able to cut out shapes… cross your fingers for me :)
Made these. Great flavor.
Dough was a little crumbly and took patience to roll out.
Yes…it was a bit difficult, but so worth it!