With cold weather here in the Bay Area, I love the wintry spices – especially the warming spice ginger. My morning masala chai always gets a hefty addition of fresh ginger, giving me that cozy warming feeling in the back of my throat.
Ginger, Chocolate, Baileys?
Ginger and chocolate make a fantastic combination and that’s where my Chocolate Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Bailey’s Buttercream come in. I came up with this recipe in 2019, when it was first published on my old blog.
Yes! This whole combination works! Ginger and chocolate paired with a boozy touch from Bailey’s which is an Irish liquor forms the perfect combination for a kick-ass cookie.
Ingredients for the Chocolate Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Bailey’s Buttercream
The ingredients for the Chocolate Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Bailey’s Buttercream are:
- All purpose flour
- Dark cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Ground spices : ginger, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg
- Dark brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Unsulfured dark molasses
- Vanilla extract
- Unsalted butter at room temperature
- Egg
- 60% chocolate
- Candied ginger
- Demerara/Turbinado sugar for rolling, or use decorative sugar for rolling
How to make the Chocolate Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Bailey’s Buttercream
The cookies are really easy to make. The dry ingredients are combined first, and then mixed with the wet ingredients, in the bowl of a stand mixer, to create the cookie dough. Add chocolate and candied ginger to the mixture. Candied ginger is one of my favorite candies to work with and add to for Christmas cookies.
The cookie dough is allowed to set in the fridge for an hour. Ice cream scooper is your best friend in these months. Make cookie dough balls using the scooper and roll in demerara sugar or turbinado sugar. You want a coarse sugar so that it looks pretty – glistens, and also provides the crunch factor to the cookie which I absolutely love.
The cookie is baked in the oven, a few at a time and a tray at a time and cooled completely.
When I was recipe testing these Chocolate Gingerbread cookies, I could not stop eating a few atleast from each batch, especially when they are fresh out of the oven, and slightly cooled, and it gets a slight crust from the demerara sugar!
Ingredients for the Bailey’s Buttercream
The ingredients for the Bailey’s Buttercream are:
- Unsalted butter at room temperature
- Powdered sugar
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
- Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur
How to make the Bailey’s Buttercream
The buttercream is fairly simple too. Add all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until well combined and fluffy. The Irish liquor Bailey’s adds a wonderful taste to the cookie.
I use a Wilton 1M tip to pipe beautiful rosettes onto the flat side of each cookie, and sandwich it with the flat side of another cookie.
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container, in a cool place, for upto 10 days, IF it lasts that long!
Tips to make the Chocolate Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Bailey’s Buttercream
Here are a few tips to make the most delicious Chocolate Gingerbread Sandwich Cookies with Bailey’s Buttercream:
- Cooling the dough in the fridge helps to make the balls properly.
- Make sure to roll it in sparkling sugar or demerara sugar to give the outer cookie a nice crunch.
- Use a 1 tablespoon cookie dough scooper to get the perfect amount of dough to get even cookies.
- Make sure to bang the pan once the pan is out of the oven, so that the cookies settle and flatten out a bit to make perfect sandwiches.
- I use a spatula to make all the cookies evenly round while they are hot out of the oven, by slightly nudging them where they may not be round or out of shape.
- Make sure all the buttercream ingredients are room temperature so that the buttercream does not seize up.
What kind of an ice cream scooper do you use to scoop out the cookies?
This cookie scoop trio is perfect to keep in the house for all your baking/ice cream needs!
Where can I find demerara sugar or turbinado sugar?
Use this demerara sugar or turbinado sugar to roll your cookies.
How long do these cookies keep and how do I store them?
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container, in a cool place, for upto 10 days, IF it lasts that long!
Where can I find Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur?
You can find Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur at Amazon or at any grocery store.
Are these cookies shippable?
Because it is colder weather right now, the cookies are shippable within North America, and will keep it’s shape.
Other holiday cookies that you can make from my blog are:
- Chocolate Cookie Sandwich with Strawberry Hibiscus Marshmallow
- Orange Zest and Cardamom Sugar Cookies
- Marbled Halvah Cookies
- Fennel Shortbread with Pistachio Buttercream
If you make this recipe, please tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment on this blog post.
Happy Holidays!
XO
Amisha
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookie Sandwich with Bailey’s Buttercream
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookie
- 2 1/4 cups (335 grams) all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (23 grams) dark cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3/4 cup (160 grams) dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup unsulfured dark molasses
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup(1 1/2 sticks; 170 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 cup medium to small coarsely chopped 60% chocolate
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup candied ginger, coarsely chopped
- Demerara/Turbinado sugar for rolling, or use decorative sugar for rolling
Bailey’s Buttercream
- 1 stick (1/2 cup; 113 grams) 1butter at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur
Get Recipe Ingredients
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookie
- 1. In a medium bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and whisk it all together to combine.
- 2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, add the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar, and whisk at high speed for 2 minutes, until fluffy. Add the egg and whisk until combined at medium speed. Add the molasses, and vanilla extract and combine again, at low speed.
- 3. Now slowly at low speed, add the flour mixture in 2 batches, until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and incorporate it into the mixture.
- 4. Add the chopped chocolate and candied ginger and mix well. Remove the dough and divide it into 2 plastic wraps. Wrap it well and form into disks. Place in the refrigerator for an hour.
- 5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Take a 1 tablespoon ice cream scooper, and scoop out the dough. Roll it in your hands to form a ball, roll it in the sugar, and place it on the baking sheet.
- 6. Put 3 in a row, and about 12 cookies per sheet.
- 7. Place the baking sheet in the middle lower rack and bake for about 12 minutes. (I usually bake one sheet at a time, but you should know your oven better).
- 8. Remove from the oven, and bang the entire tray against the counter 2-3 times. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Remove and let it completely cool on the wired rack.
Bailey’s Buttercream
- 1. In a medium bowl, add the butter and salt, and whip it with a hand mixer for 1 minute. Now add the powdered sugar, Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur and vanilla extract, and slowly mix it so that the sugar does not spread everywhere! Increase the speed gradually to medium to mix it all together for 1 minute.
- 2. In a piping bag with a Wilton round tip or a 1M tip inserted, add the buttercream into the bag, twist and close it tight. Push the buttercream down. Set it aside.
Assembly
- 1. Turn one cookie flat side up, pipe the buttercream on the entire cookie in a concentric circle. Top with another cookie and gently press to seal, making sure it matches the other cookie. Repeat with all the cookies.
- 2. Store in an airtight container, and in a cool place for upto 2 weeks.
Notes
What kind of an ice cream scooper do you use to scoop out the cookies?
- This cookie scoop trio is perfect to keep in the house for all your baking/ice cream needs!
Where can I find demerara sugar or turbinado sugar?
- Use this demerara sugar or turbinado sugar to roll your cookies.
How long do these cookies keep and how do I store them?
- The cookies can be stored in an airtight container, in a cool place, for upto 2 weeks, IF it lasts that long!
Where can I find Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur?
- You can find Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur at Amazon or at any grocery store.
Are these cookies shippable?
- Because it is colder weather right now, the cookies are shippable within North America, and will keep it’s shape.
2 replies on “Chocolate Gingerbread Cookie Sandwich with Bailey’s Buttercream”
I made these for Christmas and they were delicious! Perfect balance of flavors and great texture. Definitely a keeper for holiday baking. However, they are quite rich and large so next year i plan to make these bite size/mini.
Hi Gabby, thank you for your feedback! I will revisit it this year, and look to making them smaller. Glad you enjoyed them.