Ginger Wasabi Chocolate Chip Cookies

Several months ago Chris ordered me specialty pistoles from Vosges, specifically a 4 oz bag each of the black pearl, naga and red fire chips. I have been avoiding them for months now. Not because I wasn't interested in them or because I thought they would be bad, but because I was scared that anything I put them in would overwhelm the delicate and wonderful combination flavors that Vosges worked so hard to perfect.

I finally bit the bullet yesterday and used the black pearl chips.

I was initially going to use the recipe for brownies that the bag said was inside -- however, what the outside of the bag didn't bother to mention is that the recipe inside called for two bags of the chips, and I of course only had one. *grumble* I felt committed by this point though, so I forged ahead, deciding to make a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe and using half of the dough for the specialty chips and half for regular chocolate chips, just to make sure there was enough chocolate to go around.

I also decided that I would dress up the cookie dough a bit to intensify the flavors of the black pearl chips, so I added 2 tsps of ground ginger and a tsp of wasabi powder to the dough itself, to ensure that even the cookies using plain chocolate chips would have a special twist. The results were fabulous.

The ginger in the dough has a light spicy bite to and the wasabi adds a unique, but virtually unidentifiable flavor to the back of your tongue and mouth. The amounts I included didn't make them really hot or spicy or anything, but it certainly added a unique and wonderful combination to a chocolate chip cookie. I also added 1/2 cup of almond meal to the recipe in an attempt to prevent cookie spread which worked fairly well. They are still flat and chewy cookies with a bit of spread, but they are not the frustratingly flat, edges burned ugly messes that so many chocolate chip cookies turn into.



Adapted from Carole Walter's Great Cookies book
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tbsps light corn syrup
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup almond meal (or ground oatmeal)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp wasabi powder
8 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and sugars in the mixer until light and creamy. Add the egg, light corn syrup and vanilla extract and mix well.

In another bowl combine the dry ingredients, except for the chips. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. Fold in the chips

Drop 1 1/2 inch mounds of dough on cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Bake 10-12 minutes until the cookies are brown around they edges. They do spread a bit, so space accordingly.