This lady loves peppermint and chocolate. This is Julia’s entry for 2018 Christmas Treat #8 – Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookie. Last year Julia surprised my taste buds with a no-bake chocolate peppermint brownie. I was so blown away with the taste, I said yes immediately to this one. Chocolate alone is a treat but add the peppermint to it and well, that’s a whole new level of flavor.  Nice pick Julia!

We used peppermint candy canes. I must admit, they take me back to earlier Christmas’ when candy canes were eagerly crunched and devoured by me. Loved that crunchy sound, hated the cavities that followed. Peppermint extract also ramps up the flavor, but don’t use too much as it can be overpowering. This is a small batch so I suggest doubling it if you want to have more to offer (eat). We also used dark Lindt chocolate – makes it a nice grown up treat. Semi-sweet chocolate chips would make it too sweet for me, but do try for yourself.

This is a lovely combination of flavors which makes it another recipe to add to your Christmas baking files. As always – enjoy!

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
150g sugar
1 large egg
½ tsp natural peppermint extract
170g all-purpose flour
32g cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
3-4 candy canes – crushed (peppermint candies will also work)
40g dark, dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350f and line a baking tray with parchment – set aside
In a medium sized bowl, add flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder – whisk or sift together – set aside
Using a stand or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes
Add the egg and peppermint extract and beat until fully mixed scraping down the sides as needed
Add chocolate chips and stir
At this stage, you can either form into a round log, wrap in plastic wrap or parchment and freeze for about 15 minutes (or until firm) or chill the dough for the same length of time, then just use a teaspoon and form small balls and bake
Remove the log and unwrap, slice the log into ¼” thin widths, place the pieces 1 inch apart on the tray
Make a slight indent on the top of each slice of dough and put a few chocolate chips and some crushed candy canes into each indent
Bake for 8-10 minutes – the center might be soft but as long as the edges are firm – it’s done, chewy
For a crisper cookie bake another minute or two more
Transfer to a cooling rack to set and cool completely before storing