charlys-room: Peppermint Bark Cookies {Christmas Cookie Week-#ChristmasCookies}

Welcome to Christmas Cookie Week 2013! This year, 8 bloggers have come together to share a daily recipe for yummy and delicious cookies that we hope will inspire you during this season of Christmas baking! We come from different parts of Canada, with one friend joining us from Alabama, but we all share a joy of baking which makes for love…fresh from the oven!

Peppermint Ice Cream. Peppermint Bark. Mmmm. They are favourites of mine during the holiday season. And the Peppermint Bark from Williams Sonoma...total awesome-sauce! So, so good! I thought it would be fun to de-construct this treat and re-imagine them as cookies for the Christmas treat plate! This recipe essentially combines the flavours of the bark into a cookie. I have a favourite double chocolate recipe that I thought would be the perfect starting point for these lovelies.

But first I must give you a peek of my kitchen on Saturday. I was 'Busy Baker Betty' baking Christmas cookies all day. My kitchen counter was an absolute riot of cookies everywhere. It was fun and productive, but I could not wait to put my feet up at the end of the day.

So back to the peppermint bark creation.

These are not hard to make and if you already have a favourite double chocolate cookie recipe, then I would use that! If you don't, I have one to share that makes a lovely crispy-on-the-outside-soft-and-chewy-on-the-inside cookie with very basic ingredients!

Chocolate Dream Cookie Recipe

{makes 3-4 dozen}

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.

2 cups white chocolate melting wafers

Pure peppermint extract

1 cup crushed peppermints or candy canes

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

1. COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs for about 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

2. BAKE for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are puffed. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

3. When cookies are completely cooled, melt white chocolate wafers 1 cup at a time. {Melt gently in microwave at 20 second increments, stirring with a spoon until smooth.} Add 1 tsp. peppermint extract to melted white chocolate. Stir.

4. Spoon 1 tsp. white chocolate on top of each cookie and using back of spoon, swirl to cover top of cookie. Sprinkle with crushed candy cane or peppermints and let set for an hour.