Baking on a rainy morning…there are few things this satisfying and comforting.

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It’s been a minute, friends! Are you even still here? As usual, I must apologize for my absence! I’ve been so wrapped up in grad school, work and projects, but I missed the blog so much! I’ve also been recipe testing, and this is one of my favorite things I have made: ginger chai chocolate chip cookies.

It’s kind of a mouthful to say, but it’s pretty much a combination of everything I want in a cookie: soft and chewy, full of intriguing spices, not too sweet, with melty pools of dark chocolate, bright bites of ginger, all balanced with flakes of sea salt. OMG. You’ll wanna make two batches, one for you, and another one so you can win over everyone at work/school. Everyone seems to love me, just sayin’. 🙂

I shot these photos at our AirBnB when my sister and I took a trip to Austin, to celebrate the end of this semester, and to visit my friend Miranda, who was in town. Miranda’s a baker and a soul sister to me, so I had to bake her these cookies, and I am so grateful that our AirBnB hosts were gracious enough to let us use their beautiful kitchen!

Funny story, I had packed all the cookie ingredients and had them ready to go, but forgot the whole bag at home, so at 10 p.m. the night we arrived, I found myself on an H-E-B adventure for cookie supplies. Lucky for me, and lucky for you, the ingredients are pretty simple, nothing crazy. I found everything I needed at one store. However, I couldn’t bring myself to splurge on a new cookie dropper, so the dough had to be hand-rolled and rustic. Rustic AF. See below.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen me rave plenty about Miranda’s macarons, egg tarts(!!!), and brownies (yes, all vegan)! She and her parents run Mama Lee’s Bakery on Etsy! I’ve ordered so many things from Miranda, but my personal favorites have to be the brownies and egg tarts! It only felt right for me to give Miranda the gift of these cookies in return for her sweetness and fiery encouragement in our friendship over the years. We hadn’t seen each other in literally three years!

I took these photos while it was raining, btw. Soo happy I got that perfect moody, dreamy aesthetic I was going for! My absolute favorite shot is at the end of this post…the best is last! Get excited, guys, because I’ve been going on so many adventures and working on so many projects (inside and out of the kitchen) and I want to share it all with you! Alright, let’s get to baking.

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Ginger Chai Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yields 20 cookies

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Time: 30 minutes to an hour
The time depends on if you choose to bake right away or let dough chill!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger (or less, to taste)
• 1 generous pinch of cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour*
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup organic white sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses**
• 1/2 cup canola oil ***
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons nondairy milk (I’m partial to cashew milk)
• 1 1/2 oz. vegan dark chocolate bar, roughly chopped****
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup crystallized ginger pieces, roughly chopped or torn by hand*****

Coarse, flaky sea salt, for garnish (optional, but it’s AMAZING).

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Notes: 
*I’ve tested this several times. All purpose flour will work too; whole wheat will be too dry, so I don’t recommend it. I have yet to test these with a gluten free mix, but will share results when I do!

**I used a combination of sugar and molasses because I almost never have brown sugar on hand when I made these, but you can also use 1/2 cup organic white sugar and 1/4 cup organic brown sugar, and skip the molasses.

***Or any neutral oil, like vegetable oil. I used an organic expeller pressed canola oil. Important note: Grape seed oil is not recommended! Trust me, I tried and results were not good. haha.

****FYI, most semisweet or dark chocolate is vegan, just gotta check! I tend to prefer dark, especially to balance the sweetness of the cookies, at least 60% cocoa content. But you can use semisweet or even vegan milk chocolate if you prefer. Bars at the store are usually 3 oz; I just break that in half (no need to be exact, unless you own a kitchen scale like me)! You can also do more if you like extra chocolate chunks.

*****Add ginger to your taste! I looove ginger so I put a ton, but if you want just a hint, start with less and adjust to your liking!

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Method:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the spices, salt, flour, and baking powder.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, molasses, oil, vanilla, and nondairy milk until incorporated.
3. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon/spatula until just combined. Then, fold in the chocolate and ginger pieces and mix gently until incorporated.
   

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   For deeper flavors, I recommend letting the dough chill in the fridge for half an hour or so before scooping to bake. You can also let it sit overnight for maximum deepness of flavor (THE BEST!), but it’s also cool if you want to bake right away! I’ve done all three, and the results have always been delicious.

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4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two large baking sheets with your oil of choice, or line two large baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.
5. Using a cookie scoop (I usually use a tablespoon sized one), drop the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, spaced 2″ apart. You can also use a tablespoon to scoop out the dough and roll into balls by hand.
6. Sprinkle the cookie dough balls with coarse, flaky sea salt. I also added some extra ginger pieces on top, for some of the cookies. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes. I set my timer for 9 minutes because I like soft cookies! Highly recommend!
7. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for about 5 minutes, before sliding a metal spatula underneath the cookies to move them to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before serving, if you can wait.
8. Enjoy with an ice cold glass of your favorite nondairy milk! Or rush outside to snap dreamy photos of your cookies in the rain. 🙂