Ginger White Chocolate & Rye Cookies

When I started thinking about making a ginger and white chocolate cookie; I didn’t want a ginger cookie with white chocolate chips. I wanted a perfectly plain cookie, chewy in the middle whilst being golden and crisp on the edges, with gooey gingery white chocolate pockets. So I melted the chocolate, added ground ginger and stem ginger, spread it out into a bark before chilling and chopping into big chunks (just the way I like it for a cookie!)

I love that you bite into these cookies and hit a melty morsel of gingery white chocolate just sitting amongst an unassuming cookie dough. I think the addition of dark rye flour contrasts really well against the sweetness from the chocolate and gives these sweets a bit more body.

Ingredients - makes 15

Ginger White Chocolate:
200g white chocolate
1 tsp ground ginger
2 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
salt

Cookie:
120g plain flour
105g dark rye flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
170g unsalted butter, melted
140g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Method:
Start by making your ginger white chocolate bark. Break up the white chocolate into a bowl and melt. Stir through the ground ginger. Spread the ginger chocolate onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle the chopped stem ginger evenly over the top followed by a pinch of salt. Place the tray into the fridge until set, about 20 minutes. Once set, cut it into 1-1.5cm cubes. Separate 70g and keep to one side for the tops of the cookies. Keep refrigerated until needed.

For the cookies; place both sugars, vanilla and melted butter into a mixing bowl. Mix together for a a minute or so until smooth. Add in the egg and yolk and beat to combine. In a small bowl mix together the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Add this to the butter mixture and mix. Just before all of the flour has been mixed in, add in the chopped chocolate (making sure to keep back the 70g for the topping that you separated earlier.)

Scoop the cookie mixture into 50g balls, place onto a lined baking tray and clingfilm. I like to refrigerate mine overnight, or you can chill them for at least 4 hours.

When you’re ready to bake; pre-heat the oven to 175°C. Place the cookies on a lined baking tray a few inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden around the edges but still soft in the middle. Once the cookies have come out of the oven, place 2-3 pieces of the chopped chocolate on top that you reserved earlier. Cool before serving.