Sweet

Sweet tooth or not, you just have to bake for Christmas. The season would not be the same without gingerbread and shortbread. Christmas tree, lights, presents and carols can not rival the smell of baking wafting through the house. And, at our house it is the smell of cookies and cakes that we only bake at Christmas, that signal, the official arrival of the season. In case you haven't noticed, it has been raining since noon today. They cold and dreary day had nothing else in store, so after doing the dinner dishes I pulled out the "special", elastic bound bundle of recipes from my file and spread the contents across the kitchen table. I decided that today was going to be day 1 of what is usually a month-long Christmas baking frenzy. Looking through several possibilities and through the contents of my baking cupboard, I decided on my favourite. Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies. They have become a trademark family tradition after searching for years for that one recipe that we would come back to every year. For several years in a row I have had to make these cookies several times because they just seemed to disappear before Christmas even arrived. Even when frozen in the basement freezer, they seemed to grow legs and disappear one by one until I had no choice but to repeat the process all over again. But who could blame the helpless bystander when the memory of these baked beauties refused to diminish even when frozen solid. Imagine a soft spice cookie, enriched by a hint of cocoa and studded with partially melted chunks of semi-sweet chocolate. Now do you understand? No, you say? well here's the recipe so you can see what you've been missing for yourself.

http://www.marthastewart.com/339353/chewy-chocolate-gingerbread-cookies