Taking a classic Christmas cookie to the next level, I’m introducing Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies – a twist on the traditional that you never knew you needed.
Imagine the familiar spice of gingerbread, but enriched with a deep dark chocolate flavor. Not only are these cookies delicious, but they’re also surprisingly healthy. Each cookie is under 100 calories and packed with 5g of protein (plus gluten-free).
These cookies have all the festive charm of gingerbread, combined with the irresistible allure of chocolate. Bake them with your family, keep the protein content our little secret, and watch as everyone enjoys a high-protein treat.
Whether enjoyed plain or decorated to whatever festive scene you can dream up, these Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies are a holiday treat that makes for a really fun way to change things up.
Perfect for a cozy evening snack, a post-workout pick-me-up, or as a fun baking project with the kids. Let’s get into it.
How to make high-protein chocolate gingerbread cookies
Creating these chocolate gingerbread cookies is as fun as it is easy.
Start by mixing your dry ingredients to ensure a smooth, clump-free dough. In this chocolate version, I use the same gingerbread spice as in my original protein gingerbread recipe, but I lowered the ginger slightly.
Since cocoa powder is already bitter, we don’t want the fresh ginger to add too much bitterness.
Once you add the melted butter, molasses, and milk, you’ll see the mixture transform into a thick, chocolatey dough. Don’t hesitate to get your hands in there to bring it all together (I mean, getting messy is half the fun).
Since we’re not messing with any raw eggs (and our flour mixture is safe to eat raw), you can taste the dough to determine if you need to make any adjustments. I found the sweetness to be perfect, but you can add in more granulated sugar if needed (or you can add in more ground ginger if you prefer extra spice).
Like my original protein gingerbread cookies, chilling the dough for an hour after mixing is key. This step is crucial for making the dough easier to work with and helps in achieving the perfect cookie texture, so you won’t want to skip it.
When it comes to rolling out your chocolate gingerbread dough, a little parchment paper goes a long way to prevent sticking.
Remember, these cookies won’t rise much, so roll the dough to your preferred thinness for the final cookies. The thinner your dough, the crispier your gingerbread cookies will turn out.
Get creative with your cookie cutter shapes – the sky’s the limit! As much as I love classic gingerbread shapes, I couldn’t help but to try out some squirrel and leg lamp shapes, too. Choose shapes that bring you joy!
Carefully transfer your cut cookies onto your baking sheet, re-roll the excess dough, and continue until all the dough is used.
You should get roughly 12 cookies out of your dough, but it will depend on how thin you roll your dough out and the size of your cookie cutters. As you can see from the photo above, I threw some mini gingerbread shapes in there, too, so that leads to more than 12 cookies total.
Bake your cookies at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes, then let them firm up on a cooling rack for about an hour.
The chocolate gingerbread cookies will resemble chewy chocolate ginger cookies when they first come out of the oven but trust the process. As the gingerbread cookies cool, they will harden and crisp up. After one hour, they should have the perfect crunch!
Once your cookies have cooled and crisped up, it’s time to get creative.
I prefer to use store-bought icing to make things easiest, but you can also make your own simple icing with some powdered sugar and milk. I opt for store-bought because I know it will firm up and remain solid (like royal icing).
You can also melt down some chocolate chips to drizzle melted chocolate over each chocolate ginger cookie, too. Nobody is going to complain about a little extra chocolate.
There’s no wrong way to decorate a gingerbread man, so have fun with it!
The Best Protein Powder for Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
For this recipe, I recommend using a chocolate whey/casein blend protein powder (and don’t forget, you can use code “Matt” for a discount on PEScience). The flavor of the PEScience Chocolate Truffle protein powder is my absolute favorite, and it works perfectly for this recipe.
Other types of protein powder should work, but I did not test anything other than a whey/casein protein blend. 100% whey protein will likely work well, but I can’t say the same for vegan protein powder.
So, there you have it – a new twist on a classic holiday favorite. These Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies are sure to become a staple in your holiday baking lineup, offering a perfect balance of flavor, festive fun, and of course, protein!
And if you’re curious about how these compare to the original, check out my Protein Gingerbread Cookies recipe.
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients for the chocolate gingerbread cookies. Mix to avoid clumping.
- Melt your butter in the microwave, then add it to the bowl along with the molasses and milk. Mix the ingredients until it forms a thick chocolate cookie dough. Use your hands to bring everything together if needed.
- Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour. This chilling time will allow the dough to firm up before cutting out the gingerbread shapes.
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add your cookie dough to a flat surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out. Gingerbread cookies will not puff up very much, so roll the dough out as thin as you’d like your cookies to be.
- Cut out as many gingerbread cookies as you can from the dough, peel away the excess dough, and carefully lift the gingerbread cookies onto a nonstick cookie sheet or baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Form the cookie dough scraps into another ball of dough, roll it out, and cut out more cookies. Continue until you have used up all your dough, which will be roughly 12 cookies depending on the size you make.
- Bake the gingerbread cookies for 12 minutes at 350 degrees F.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack. Let the cookies sit for one hour to completely cool and firm up. The cookies will be soft out of the oven, but they crisp up as they cool.
- Decorate your chocolate gingerbread cookies with icing and toppings of your choice!
Notes
- I originally tried this recipe with one teaspoon of ground ginger, but I found the spice to be too strong when combined with the chocolate. If you prefer heavy spice, you can bump up the ground ginger or lower the amount of granulated sugar.
- I only tested this recipe with PEScience protein powder, which is a blend of whey & casein protein. Whey protein should work well here in the same quantity, but I cannot promise the same results with a plant-based protein powder.
- These gingerbread cookies will stay fresh for one week in an airtight container at room temperature. They will retain their crisp and stay delicious as leftovers!
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Nutrition Information
Yield 12
Serving Size 1 Cookie
Amount Per Serving
Calories 95Total Fat 5gCarbohydrates 10gProtein 5g
