Chocolate peppermint cookies

Earlier this month, I helped a friend decorate her Christmas tree. She baked up some Nestle dark chocolate peppermint cookies to make her home smell like…freshly baked cookies. Not only did they smell great, they tasted great too! And since then I have been thinking about those cookies more than I probably should, so I decided I had to try to recreate them. 

I used Ghiradelli peppermint bark (a 3.5-ounce bar was plenty; 4-5 of the individual squares would be enough too). I wanted to add a little peppermint extract but I couldn’t find it, and I gave up after looking in Whole Foods, Shaws, and Target. I give myself an A-minus…they are pretty tasty but I wanted them to be a little more peppermint-y. 

Peppermint two ways

Chocolate peppermint cookies
Makes: about 3 dozen

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped peppermint bark (I used Ghiradelli)
1/4 cup chopped peppermint candy canes, plus more for topping

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Cookies!

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in egg, then stir in vanilla.

3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the butter and sugar mixture until just blended. Mix in the chopped peppermint bark and candy canes.

4. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets (I line mine with parchment paper). Top each cookie with a few pieces of crushed candy canes.


5. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.