Double Chocolate-Ginger Cookies

For those of you who like chocolate and ginger together, here's a double whammy of both! These are great with a glass of cold almond milk... and if there's any left, you could always wrap some up in cellophane with a pretty ribbon, and give them to your neighbours for Christmas :)

(They'll love you forever!)

If you use Rapadura in these, they need either an egg, or an extra 20g of rice-malt syrup. If you use rice-malt syrup, the egg can be omitted. I like it best with the Rapadura and egg.

1. First, take about this much fresh ginger (1 1/2 to 2 inches, depending how strong you want it) ...

... peel it, chuck it in the Thermomix, and grind it up for about 10 seconds on speed 9.

2. Add dates and grind for 15 seconds, speed 9:
- 70g dates

3. Add wet ingredients and mix for 30 seconds, speed 5:
- 70g molasses
- 70g Rapadura OR rice malt syrup
- 1 egg (optional if using rice malt syrup)
- 75g coconut oil
- 40g olive oil (or other oil, such as macadamia oil)

4. Add dry ingredients and mix for another 30 seconds, speed 5, using spatula to help mix:
- 230g unbleached plain spelt flour (or part wholemeal spelt flour)
- 1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 20g cocoa (preferably good quality, fair trade)
- 1 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)

5. Add choc chips and barely mix in, 10 seconds, reverse, speed 3:
- 100g Rapadura sweetened chocolate chips (or chocolate chopped in small chunks)



6. Drop heaped teaspoonfuls onto lined trays and bake in moderate oven (180 degrees) for about 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on trays, store in airtight container (in the freezer if you want them to last!) :)