Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Peppermint and Chocolate are a match made in cookie heaven in these Chocolate Peppermint Cookies.  With a light sprinkling of candy canes on top, these would make a festive addition to your holiday cookie tray this year!

I hope you guys aren’t sick of peppermint yet because I’ve got 1 more recipe and this one coming at you before we glide into the new year. I absolutely love peppermint and chocolate as you can read from this Peppermint Hot Cocoa Cookie Bar post.  I’ve always had a love of mint flavored anything.  For as long as I can remember, Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream has been my favorite but please don’t try to give me the white kind, it’s gotta be green, or it just ain’t right, LOL!  So when it comes to holiday time, I always find myself stocking up on candy canes to add from everything to bark, cookies, pie and ice cream.  P.S.  Have you guys seen you can purchase already crushed candy canes?!  Mind blown.  Time saver.  Purchased 3+ bags!

Let’s rewind a little bit.  If some of you don’t know, and you can read my introduction post here, this is my 7th month of blogging but I’ve been a foodie for over 10 years.  I’ve printed out thousands of recipes, bookmarked hundreds of pages and drooled over my food blogs over the last 10 years.  Each year I always wondered how fun it would be to participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.  Well this year, as a new food blogger, I got my chance.

Not only was it so much fun to swap cookies with food bloggers from all over the U.S.,  it also benefited Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, which is a non-profit organization funding research for Pediatric Cancer treatments.  You can read more about their wonderful organization here.

In addition to supporting a wonderful cause, we were also gifted with some awesome swag and coupons from Dixie Crystals, OXO and Land O’Lakes. A huge shout out to these brands as they helped this fbcookieswap raise over $7,000!

I enjoyed Chocolate Dipped Orange Shortbread Cookies from a farmgirl’s dabbles, Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies from Sarah’s Bake Studio and Rosemary Shortbread with Flaky Sea Salt from lebluegrass.  Thank you ladies, I’m not sure how you all knew how much I love shortbread and peppermint!  They were all so fabulous, I had a hard time-sharing with the family.  To find more delicious recipes, you can search the hashtag #fbcookieswap on Instagram and they’ll also be a roundup of all the recipes from this year’s participants.

Check out roundups Part I and Part II for over 375+ delicious recipes and food bloggers who participated in the 2015 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.

So, onto my contribution.  I had a hard time coming up with a recipe as I wanted to make it festive for the holidays and something everyone would enjoy.  I started to make one cookie and got about as far as packaging them up when I decided I just wasn’t happy with them.  I have an issue with perfection sometimes so back to the drawing board it was.  I perused through the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications (anyone else a sucker for those?  I swear I have all of them)  100 Best Cookies and bingo, I happened upon their Chocolate Glazed Peppermint Cookies.  Bingo!

So without further adieu, I give to you my version of Chocolate Peppermint Cookies.  Happy Baking!

1 vote

Print

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Prep 1 hour

Cook 8 mins

Total 1 hour, 8 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 68

Peppermint and Chocolate are a match made in cookie heaven in these Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. With a light sprinkling of candy canes on top, these would make a festive addition to your holiday cookie tray this year!

Ingredients

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 unsweetened cocoa powder, I used dutch processed
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 salt
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• Chocolate Peppermint Coating
• 2- 12 ounce packages semi sweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 3 crushed candy canes or 1/3 cup crushed candy cane pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat
2. In a large bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add in the cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and instant coffee and mix until combined.
4. Beat in egg and vanilla followed. Add in flour, 1 cup at a time until well combined.
5. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a 10 inch long roll.
6. Wrap each roll into wax paper and chill for 1 hour.
7. Cut each roll into 1/4 inch slices and place on cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
8. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes until the edges are firm and cool on wire rack.
9. Chocolate Peppermint Coating
10. In a double boiler set oven medium heat, melt chocolate and coconut oil together.
11. When melted, stir in peppermint extract
12. Dip each cookie into melted chocolate, tapping off the excess before placing back on parchment lined cookie sheets.
13. Sprinkle the tops with a few candy cane pieces and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes until chocolate is set.

Notes

Slightly adapted from: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chocolate-glazed-peppermint-cookies/You can easily bake half a batch by placing 1 of the rolls in the freezer until ready to use.

Courses Cookie

My secret to these cookies is the instant coffee granules.  Coffee has a way of intensifying the chocolate flavor and I just think it’s a match made in delicious heaven.  Try it some time you are making a chocolate cupcake, a layer cake or these cookies.

The cookies were delicious and I loved the crunch that the candy canes added to the top.  I am so glad I have another roll in the fridge so that I can bake-off another batch to hand out to friends and family.

I’m already looking forward to participating next year in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.

Don’t forget to check out this round-up (coming soon as of publishing) so you can drool over the rest of the delicious recipes from food bloggers all over.

Enjoy and if you make this recipe, please share a photo on social media and hashtag it #strawberryblondiekitchen I ♥ to see your versions!  Happy Eating!