Twinkling Candied-Ginger Stars

I made these for a Christmas Cookie Exchange I attended on Saturday. I now have a wonderful mix of cookies in my cookie jar! Here was my offering...candied-ginger stars that I dipped in Belgian chocolate topped with sanding sugar to make 'em twinkle. The recipe is adapted from one I found in the 2010 Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies magazine.

2 cups flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
¾ cup softened butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup chopped candied ginger
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vanilla

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl.
In separate bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add ginger and beat 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. Reduce speed to medium-low and add flour mixture. Beat until dough just comes together. Divide dough in half and shape into disks. Wrap tightly in plastic: chill 1 hour or up to 3 days.

Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk of dough to ¼” thickness. Cut out stars with a 2” cookie cutter. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing 1” apart. Re roll scraps and cut out more stars.

Bake rotating sheets halfway through baking until cookies are set and edges are light golden, about 12-14 minutes. Transfer cookies to baking sheets. Let cool completely.

For the glaze:

6 oz. bitter-sweet chocolate
1 ½ tablespoons corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter
Sanding sugar, optional

In a pot on low heat, melt all ingredients together until melted (keep stirring). With a spatula, paint chocolate onto cookies. If desired, dust with sanding sugar.