In sweet cookery, spice can provide a delicate fragrance, hard to put your finger on but one that gives backbone to a dish. It can balance tartness and tone down things that are overly sweet. 

Flavours can be enhanced by a thoughtful addition from the spice cupboard, making chocolate more chocolaty and fruit taste more of itself. Added not in shouts but in whispers, an intrigue of spice deepens allure. 

You can’t enjoy spices in isolation, they need foods to bounce off, so cooking with them is an art of creating relationships. Like any successful marriage, when paired with the right ingredients they will bring out the best in each other. 

Ingredients: 

• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1⁄2 tsp fine sea salt
• 150g dark chocolate, cut into chunks
• 100g crystallised ginger, cut into chunks
• 140g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 140g dark muscovado or soft dark brown sugar 
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• Sea salt flakes, for sprinkling 

Spice switch: Trade in the garam masala for other sweet and complex spice mixes such as hawaij, baharat, ras el hanout or advieh. 

Method: 

Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Whisk together the plain flour, garam masala, ground ginger, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and fine salt in a bowl. Stir through the chocolate and ginger chunks.

In a stand mixer with a paddle or bowl with a wooden spoon, cream together the butter and both sugars until well mixed but not aerated and fluffy. 

Beat in the egg well, then add the dry ingredients and mix through. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out balls of the dough and space well apart on the baking sheets to allow room for spreading. Chill in the fridge overnight or up to two days.