Santa is coming soon! And what better treat to leave him than warm, soft-baked, chocolatey gingerbread cookies? And save some for yourself, too 😉
Gingerbread is a quintessential part of holiday baking, but for some reason I’ve never gotten in the habit of making gingerbread desserts. I guess as a child we always bought those ready-to-make gingerbread houses that were as hard as a rock and hardly edible, so for years I considered “gingerbread” as more of a toy than a dessert. Well, that’s ended…
As I’ve been waiting for my last exam to come, I’ve been recipe testing and baking up a storm (including a new cheesecake that I will post soon!). So when Christmas rolls around, I will be ready to go with my absolute favorite new seasonal recipes. Enter Chocolate Chunk Gingerbread Cookies.
These cookies are MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH soft, thick and chewy, wonderfully spicy, and loaded with melty, rich dark chocolate…because chocolate makes everything better, right?
They’re also made healthier with ingredients you can feel good about, and they just so happen to be 100% whole grain, refined sugar-free, and dairy-free, too! Almond butter and coconut oil add healthy fats, and, for an extra bonus, the molasses adds a good dose of iron.
The dough comes together in minutes and can be made ahead of time, so fresh-baked, homemade cookies on Christmas Eve will be a breeze.
For the chocolate, I chopped up a bar of Dark Chocolate with Espresso Beans from Endangered Species, and it was HEAVENLY. But I’m sure any high quality chocolate would be amazing with these.
The first time around, I melted the chocolate and spread it on the outside. This is also a great option, especially if you want to cut them into shapes then decorate them. They will hold their shape better without hunks of chocolate all throughout. Of course I didn’t have any cookie cutters, and was too eager to use them even if I did, so I settled for messy misshapen circles and jumped straight to the sweet baked gingerbread aroma and melty chocolate…
Confession: After elegantly spreading half of each cookie with melted chocolate, I proceeded to smother mine completely in chocolate, then eat it out of the bowl I melted the chocolate in. What can I say?
However, if I HAD to choose, I recommend folding hunks of chocolate in with the dough, going with the thicker route, and eating them warm from the oven. The chocolate brings the texture from “delicious” to “TO-DIE-FOR soft and pillowy cookie heaven.” Try it and see.
{Healthy} Soft-Baked Chocolate Chunk Gingerbread Cookies
Notes
*Or any equivalent to 1/4 cup additional sugar. I used an organic stevia blend by Pyure that measures 1 part stevia to 2 parts sugar.
**Any high quality dark chocolate bar. Endangered Species' Dark Chocolate with Espresso Beans bar is amazing with this!
**To make shaped gingerbread cookies instead: Refrain from adding chocolate chunks to dough. Roll out with a rolling pin and use cookie cutters to form shapes, then bake. Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 10-20 second intervals, stirring in between. Spread half of each cookie with chocolate. Consume immediately, or place in refrigerator/freezer for a few minutes, until chocolate hardens. Note that this method will result in a thinner, firmer cookie.
Adapted from A Couple Cooks' "Soft Gingerbread Cookies"
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, softened
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 2 Tbsp stevia blend*
- 1 egg
- 1.5 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1.75 cups | 210g white whole wheat flour
- 3 oz dark chocolate**
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine almond butter, molasses, coconut oil, sugar, and stevia*. Mix well. Then add egg and stir to combine.
- Add in spices, salt, vanilla, baking powder, and flour. Stir until well combined and a dough forms.
- Roughly chop dark chocolate and fold into dough.**
- If saving dough for later, wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. To make the dough easier to work with, remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes before shaping cookies.
- Line a baking sheet (or 2) with parchment paper. Form 20 balls of dough and gently press each to form thick disks. Top with more chopped chocolate if desired.
- Bake at 350º 6-8 minutes. Don't over-bake; they will firm up slightly as they cool. Let them rest a couple minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
- Best enjoyed warm from the oven. Freeze remaining cookies in an airtight container once completely cool.
Makes 20 cookies
Serving size: 1 cookie with chocolate
- Calories: 123
- Carbs: 16 g
- Sugar: 4 g
- Fat: 7 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 53 mg