Gingerbread is just quintessentially Christmas! But this Chocolate Spice Gingerbread is kind of an upgrade. Picture this – your typical gingerbread cookie, a little soft, slightly chewy, with warming familiar spices. But with some cocoa, cloves and a touch of black pepper for a headily spiced dough that bakes up perfectly.
This Chocolate Spice Gingerbread makes a perfect treat to make and gift, wrapped up in a little cellophane bag, tied with ribbon or twine with a handwritten note. I love making edible homemade treats for the special people in my life. It has become a tradition every festive season that my family, friends and work colleagues all look forward to. What will Lisa make this year?! This recipe is also lovely to bake and decorate with kiddos as a fun and cozy holiday activity.
Here’s what you’ll need to make Chocolate Spice Gingerbread
Butter – Many, many delicious cookies start with butter. It adds flavour and helps the structure and tenderness of the cookie. You will want your butter to be softened (but not melted) before you start on any of the other steps, so take it out of the fridge ahead of time. The first step is to cream the butter reamed with the brown sugar. This usually takes between 6-10 minutes with an electric mixer.
Brown Sugar – We generally only have one kind of brown sugar available to buy here, whereas in other countries there is “light” and “dark” brown sugar. It’s up to you which you use here. Dark brown sugar contains more molasses, which will have a slightly different, richer flavour and colour. However, we are adding cocoa so the colour will be darker than regular gingerbread no matter which kind of brown sugar you have!
Golden Syrup – Here in Australia, it’s easy to find golden syrup. It may be labelled as “light treacle”. You can use regular treacle or molasses for a richer flavour or honey for a lighter flavour.
Flour & Baking Soda – Of course we need plain flour, and baking (or bicarb) soda as a raising agent. This helps to get the perfect texture in our gingerbread. I have not tried this recipe with any gluten free alternative, however if you do please leave me a comment down below and let me know how it went.
Cocoa – The chocolate flavour comes from cocoa. This is a little twist on traditional gingerbread but I personally love it!
Spices – Of course we need to add spices for warmth and flavour! I have used all pre-ground spices from the grocery store. I like a generous amount of ginger and cinnamon in these cookies because they give a lovely flavour. My twist is a small amount of cloves and black pepper. I love the slight spiciness, however you can leave these out if you’re making it for kids. You can experiment with other spices like fennel, nutmeg, cardamom and allspice if you’d like to.
One of my biggest tips is to keep your dough cool. Especially if you’re in the southern hemisphere where I am and are in the middle of summer! This dough can be quite sticky. Divide your dough in half and keep the rest cooling in the fridge until you need it. Rolling the dough out between two sheets of non-stick baking paper also really helps. If you find the dough getting sticky when rolling or cutting out the shapes, just return it to the fridge for a few minutes and you should have a much easier time.
Also please don’t roll the dough out too thin! I recommend about 5mm or 1/4 inch for nice soft cookies. They will become more crunchy if the dough is rolled thinner. 10 minutes was the perfect baking time for my oven, rotating the trays at the halfway mark. Allow the gingerbread to cool completely on the trays before trying to move or decorate them. They will firm up slightly as they cool.
I kept it simple with traditional gingerbread men, decorated with some royal icing buttons. Royal icing is the most common because it is easy to pipe (whether you are doing a simple or intricate design) and sets hard.
I wasn’t all that confident with my icing technique – some of the cookies looked like they were decorated by an un-coordinated six year old… but they tasted fantastic and were a big hit with the family. You could add sprinkles or candies to the buttons, or pipe on smiling faces. I hope that inspires you to try making some homemade edible Christmas gifts for your friends and family this year!
You may have figured out that I’m very into homemade Christmas gifts and cookies are just perfect for sharing. This year I have put all my favourite Christmas gifting recipes all into one place – my Homemade Christmas ebook! A collection of favourites and brand new exclusive recipes. Click below for more info and to purchase for direct download!
Related Post: Gingerbread Spiced Fig Granola
Chocolate Spice Gingerbread
Chocolate Spice Gingerbread, a delicious twist on a Christmas classic. Soft, slightly chewy and full of spices, these cookies are the perfect homemade treat!
Ingredients
- 125 g butter softened and chopped
- 1/2 cup (110g) brown sugar
- 2/3 cup golden syrup
- 2 1/4 cups (350g) plain flour
- 1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda / bi-carb soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Royal Icing
- 1 pasteurised egg white
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190ºC (370ºF).
- Place the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes until light and creamy. Add the golden syrup, flour, baking soda and spices and beat until mixture just comes together to form a smooth dough.
Divide dough in half and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes – 1 hour.
Working with half of the dough at a time, roll out between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper until 5mm thick. Use a gingerbread man or your choice of shaped cookie cutter to cut out shapes. In warm weather, it may be easier to place trays back into the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes before transferring cookies onto baking trays lined with baking paper.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on trays.
To make the royal icing, place the egg white and lemon juice and beat until frothy. Add the icing sugar and beat until mixture is combined and smooth. Use a piping bag or a zip lock bag with the corner snipped off to pipe the icing and decorate the gingerbread.