triple ginger dark chocolate cookies

this is my spin on heidi's triple ginger cookies. i subbed in white whole wheat flour, bumped up the spices, nixed the lemon zest and added in tiny chunks of dark chocolate. these have a wonderful, crunchy, sugar-crusted outside and are soft and spicy on the inside: the combination of ground, fresh and crystallized ginger is wonderful and sets these apart from a more traditional gingersnap.
heidi chose to make hers in tiny, half tablespoon sized cookies. i chose to make two dozen tablespoon sized cookies instead, so my baking time was longer--i loved how they came out, but feel free to follow her original size instructions and bake time. just keep an eye on them in the oven so they don't overbake.
triple ginger dark chocolate cookies
adapted from 101 cookbooks
makes 2 dozen cookies (or 4 dozen mini-cookies)

• 1/2 cup large-grain sugar (i.e. turbinado)
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 
1 tsp baking soda
• 5 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp allspice
  
• 
1/2 tsp grain sea salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
• 
1/2 cup fine grain natural cane sugar, sifted

• 1 1/2 tbsps fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 
1 large egg, well beaten
• 
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, finely minced
• 1/2 cup good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks (if using chocolate chips, give them a coarse chop--you want small pieces, since the cookies are smaller)

preheat the oven to 350°F, racks in the top and bottom 1/3 of the oven. line a couple baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper or a silpat mat (or just lightly butter them), place the large-grain sugar in a small bowl, and set aside.

in a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt.

heat the butter in a skillet until it is just barely melted. stir in the molasses, natural cane sugar, and fresh ginger. remove from heat. the mixture should be warm, but not hot at this point--if it is hot to touch let it cool a bit. whisk in the egg. now pour this over the flour mixture and add the crystallized ginger (make sure it isn't too clumpy; i had to break it up with my fingers) and chocolate. stir until just combined.

scoop out level tablespoons of dough and roll in them in the big sugar, pressing to make sure it sticks. place balls a few inches apart on prepared baking sheets and bake for 15-18 minutes or until cookies puff up, darken a bit, get fragrant and crack.