Peppermint-Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Clean up on aisle 4! These were a little on the messy side. I guess in the grand scheme of things they weren't too bad, but if I had them to do over, I'd have a designated person standing by with nicely washed hands to help me with a few things. Mainly, once the dough is actually made, making it into balls lands you with more dough on your hands than on the cookie sheet. Having a set of dough-free hands around to scrape the bowl with a spatula (don't want to waste any of that cookie goodness!) would have been handy.

Another thing, these little boogers really spread out on the cookie sheet. I don't think my balls of dough were as large as recommended in the recipe, and within 6 minutes in the oven, they were massive. They don't really poof up, they ooze out. One of my cookie sheets ended up being just that: a cookie sheet. I ended up with a large rectangle peppermint-chocolate sugar cookie. I chopped it up with a spatula and did my best, but they still look pretty wonky. In the end, who cares? They tasted delicious!



Round 2 of the cookies turned out much prettier than Round 1

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 3-5 Tbsp heavy cream
• 12 round peppermint candies, crushed, for decorating

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter, granulated sugar and 1/4 tsp peppermint extract on medium high until pale and fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in egg, then flour mixture on low. Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until edges are slightly golden, about 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on sheets on wire racks, 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to racks and let cool completely.

Stir together confectioners' sugar and enough cream to make a spreadable glaze (if you like a strong mint flavor, stir in up to 1/4 tsp extract). Spread a thin layer of glaze on top of each cookie and sprinkle with candies. Let dry completely on racks. Store in airtight container.

NOTES: I've done a few other cookie recipes that have recommended chilling the dough a little before trying to shape it into balls. Maybe this recipe would benefit from this? You then have to up your baking time a little. I would definitely suggest making the balls a little smaller than the recipe recommends in order to have more cookies and keep them from oozing too far out while baking.

I didn't bother buying mini chocolate chips since I already had some regular size. I just used the handy dandy Slap Chop to crunch them up into smaller bits. I also shouldn't have bothered buying the heavy cream. Yes, it might (but probably doesn't) make thicker frosting, but this is exactly the same thing my mom makes for frosting her sugar cookies, and regular milk works just fine. The key is to go slowly when adding the milk. You can even make the frosting green or red with food coloring if you really wanted to get festive.

I didn't add the extra peppermint extract to the frosting and I think it's just fine. I definitely suggest making sure to press your peppermint candies into the frosting a little so they don't all fall off when you move them. Remember my Halloween Candy Bark debacle?

Serves: 2+ dozen cookies
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 30 min plus cooling

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living