In a small food processor, place candied ginger, two tablespoons of the flour and the salt and process to a fine crumb.

In a small bowl, beat egg yolks with molasses, vanilla and fresh ginger. Add the contents of the food processor and mix to combine. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the remaining two cups of flour, baking soda, dried ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and cocoa power and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter for two minutes until pale, then beat in the brown sugar and mix for one minute until fully incorporated.

Add in the egg yolk and molasses ingredients and beat. Scrape the bowl and beat again.

With the mixer running on low, slowly add in the flour mixture, mixing just long enough for the flour to get mixed in.

Place the dark chocolate into a food processor and pulse until the chocolate pieces are pea sized or smaller. OK if there are a few medium chunks.

Stir the chopped chocolate into the batter.

Lay out two long pieces of plastic wrap and divide the batter between the two making two logs, about 10” long each.

Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for four or more hours.

After at least four hours, take the logs out, unwrap and cut each in half then half again yielding eight pieces. Cut each piece into three yielding a total of 24 pieces. Each ball will be 1 ½ ounces.

Pour granulated sugar into a bowl. Roll each piece of dough into a round ball and roll in the sugar. As you roll each one, place on a plate or platter. After rolling all 24, place the plate in the freezer for 30 minutes.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

When oven is heated, remove six balls from the freezer and roll again in sugar then space evenly on one lined cookie sheet and bake 11-12 minutes. (Leave in the ball shape, do not press down) You can tell they are done when the center looks cooked but still soft. I found that the 11-minute mark yielded a softer cookie and that extra minute to 12 made them a little crunchy.

Remove from oven and slide the parchment with the cookies onto a cooling rack and leave to set for five minutes before removing from the parchment with a spatula to the rack to cool further.

As soon as the first pan comes out of the oven, roll six more balls in sugar, place on the second pan and bake.

By the time you are ready to bake the third pan, the first cookie sheet will be cool enough to reuse.

Follow the same process for the fourth pan.

Bake all four batches and leave to cool for five minutes each before removing from parchment.

Once they are cool, they can be stacked and wrapped and stay firm, but while they are warm, they are very delicate.