Cinnamon Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was one of my co-workers birthdays, and I wanted to bring in something special to celebrate.  After finding out his favorite cookies were chocolate chip, I decided to make them to bring in to work.  Of course, I couldn't just make plain ol' Chocolate Chip Cookies, so I had to consider what I could do to change them up.  What could cinnamon and ginger add to the mix?


Another one of my co-workers is far more experienced and talented when it comes to food, and he had told me that he uses ginger in his cookies.  I took a note from him and decided to add both cinnamon and ginger in my dough.

In a large mixing bowl, I beat the butter, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and almond extracts together until fluffy.

A few weeks ago, I picked up some organic vanilla extract at a craft event nearby.  The Mannix Vanilla booth was one of the first places we stopped, and I was so excited to find fresh vanilla beans and vanilla extract for sale.  I grabbed both, and have been excited to try this out in some baking.  The cool thing is that it is concentrated, so I use half the amount of vanilla extract I normally would, and I hadn't caught it before but once I poured a little bit out I spotted the vanilla beans right in the bottle!

Now, back to the cookies!  In a small bowl, I mixed together the dry ingredients--flour, salt, and baking soda.  To add some extra flavor, I opted to toss in some cinnamon and ginger as well.

I gradually added the flour mixture to the larger mixing bowl until the dough was well combined.  I also poured in a little bit of heavy cream.  I had re-made Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies recently for my sister and swapped out the milk for heavy cream for a delightful effect.

Finally, I stirred in the chocolate chips and scooped the dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.  I baked the cookies for about 12 minutes.

Best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever!  These were so sweet and had an almost coconut-y taste.  The cinnamon added a very pleasant finishing flavor. My coworker suggested grinding some fresh hazelnut next time around...that might take these over the edge of awesome!  This is absolutely one for the record books.  Cinnamon and ginger belong with chocolate chip cookies.


Cinnamon Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon concentrated vanilla 1 teaspoon regular
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 bag milk chocolate chips (11.5 ounces)

Instructions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, vanilla and almond extracts together until fluffy.  Mix heavy cream, then add in eggs one at a time until well combined.  In a small bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger.  Gradually mix flour mixture into wet ingredients until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.  Bake 10-12 minutes, until edges begin to brown.