Friday, December 23, 2011

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies


Remember last year when I made the White Peppermint Snowballs? They were ok, but kind of a disappointment.  So I looked for another recipe to incorporate peppermint candies into a holiday cookie and found these.  They are perfect and I'm glad I opted for chocolate chip version.  I like to use semi-sweet chocolates chips, but white chocolate would also probably be quite tasty.  Either way, the crushed peppermint candies provide a very nice twist to a chewy cookie and it has a nice holiday feel.  Dave liked how the cookie was flavored by the candies, rather than eating a cookie and running into a piece of candy mid-bite.

Jen at Beantown Baker posted this recipe and it's a great one.  Not having any bittersweet chocolate chips, I loaded mine completely with semi-sweet chips, but you can use any combination you'd like.  I resisted the urge to use any peppermint extract, which was the right call.  Any more peppermint flavor would have been too overwhelming.  I'm pretty sure these would be Santa approved and there's a good chance you've got some candy canes floating about right now, so what are you waiting for?



Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups plus 2 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup crushed candy canes or peppermint candies
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl or a bowl of a stand mixer, use a paddle attachment to cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping sides of bowl as needed.  Beat in the vanilla.


Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing until combined.


To crush your candies, unwrap and put in a sealed zip top bag (pressed out as much air as possible).  Lay bag on a flexible cutting mat and with a meat mallet (it's a baking tool in my house) beat maliciously beat vigorously beat like you would that person at the mall who took your parking spot tap candies until crushed to small bits, but not complete candy dust.




Add chocolate chips and peppermint candies to dough and fold to combine.


On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, drop by spoonfuls (I use a small cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart.  Flatten cookies a bit with palm of hand.




Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.


Cool the cookies on sheets for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.


Makes 7 dozen cookies.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

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