Chocolate Cherry Ginger Cookies

The last of these little gems are currently hiding in our freezer.  I snuck one while I worked on this post.  You won't tell anyone, will you? 

These cookies are currently at the top of Scott's favorite list, and I can't blame him.  They're rich with the flavors of warm chocolate and spicy ginger, and the tart cherries give them just the right amount of chewiness.  I like to make them tiny so that they can be eaten in just a few bites.  Although I love eating them, my favorite part about baking these cookies is that they make our apartment smell intensely of chocolate.  The scent begins to slowly creep out of our oven like a philodendron just around the time the first batch is done.  If that isn't enough incentive to make them, I'm afraid there is no convincing you...

Notes:
I chopped up a bar of dark chocolate into tiny pieces for this recipe, but I think mini chocolate chips would work in these cookies as well.  Small pieces are preferred, because larger chunks of chocolate would make it difficult to flatten the cookies.  The sugar coating is more of a decorative touch, so you can skip that step if you're running low on time.  Just be sure that the bottom of the glass is well coated with sugar so that the cookies don't stick to it as they are flattened.  Both the unbaked dough and the finished cookies freeze well. 

Recipe adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook.

Ingredients:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cups cocoa powder, sifted
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger powder
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
½ cup dried tart cherries, finely chopped
½ cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped
½ cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
¾ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
additional granulated sugar for rolling

Yields 6 dozen cookies, give or take.

Assemble Dough:
Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or Silpat mats.  In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, ginger powder, and nutmeg, and set aside.  Additionally, in a separate medium-sized bowl, combine the dried cherries, crystallized ginger, and chocolate chips, and set aside.  In a third separate bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.  Add the egg to the butter mixture, and beat until incorporated, then add in the flour mixture all at once.  Continue beating until no more flour mixture streaks remain.  Stir or gently beat in the cherry, crystallized ginger, and chocolate mixture. 

Shaping, Baking, Coating:
Place some granulated sugar (about ¼ cup) in a shallow bowl.  Break off a teaspoon-sized (3-4 ounces) piece of the dough, and roll it into a ball.  Roll the ball in the sugar until it is fully coated, and place it on one of the prepared baking sheets.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  Once the baking sheet is full, use the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, or your fingers, to gently flatten the cookies so they are about a quarter-inch thick.  Bake the cookies at 375°F for 8-10 minutes, or until set, rotating the baking sheets halfway through.  Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.  Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container. 

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