Christmas Cookies of Joy

These cookies are just full of christmas spirit. Or maybe it's just peppermint patties. Whatever it is, it's delicious and so much fun to make! When I saw these cookies in my "Rachael Ray" magazine this month, I had to try them! I brought them to a christmas cookie exchange.

INGREDIENTS LIST:

1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 1/2 sticks butter (unsalted. If you use salted butter, reduce the salt you add to the dough), 1 egg, 24 peppermint patties (ONLY use York! I will explain why later), white chocolate (for drizzling), candy canes or peppermints, crushed (for sprinkling)

YIELD: about 2 dozen cookies

The first step is to make the dough:

Combine the dry ingredients, stir, add the butter. Make sure the butter is nice and softened so it will beat in nicely and not leave any giant chunks in the dough. Beat with a mixer, then add the egg and beat. 

Then, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (about an hour) 

 This is where I will explain why you must use York peppermint patties. That is what I used for my first batch. Then I ran out and went over to Walgreens to grab some more. That's where I saw the Pearson's mint patties. And they were cheaper. (I am all about cheaper) And they're practically the same thing anyway, right? Wrong! They may taste about the same, but the Pearson's were unsuitable for baking. The cookies with the York patties had nice, white, pepperminty centers and nothing oozed out the sides when they baked. The cookies with Pearson's had weird clear stuff (it looked like rubber cement, or hot glue, or something) bubbling out of the sides of almost every single cookie. And the centers practically disappeared. So pay the extra dollar fifty and save yourself some sadness.

Anyways, then you measure out 1 tablespoon of dough. Roll it into a ball and flatten it. Place a peppermint patty in the middle and wrap the cookie dough around it.

(By the way, I took a lot of pictures of the 1st few steps of the recipe, but my camera was feeling particularly blurry that day, and it's hard to tell if you've got a good picture on that tiny screen. None of them turned out, so you'll have to forgive me)

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  

Here's what the cookies look like after they come out of the oven.

Then, melt your white chocolate. Using your preferred method. I prefer microwaving at about half power for a minute and a half or so, stirring with a rubber spatula halfway through. 

 The recipe said specifically "don't use white chocolate chips" but I'm a rebel and I did anyways ;) ...

...Mostly because I was tired after work when I shopped for these, and Target only has white chocolate chips. They don't have any plain white chocolate bars or chunks of white chocolate. 

But, it worked out completely fine. Take that, recipe!

I put the melted chips in a plastic baggie and cut off the end, pastry bag style. Then, just drizzle the tops of the cookies with the white chocolate.

I also think it would be nice to dip the tops of the cookies in the melted chocolate, ganache style, but I didn't have the time.

Sprinkle them with your crushed candy canes before the chocolate sets up. This makes them real purty, and also lets everyone know they're full of peppermint goodness :) 

Then enjoy them with your beverage of choice (in a mug) by your Christmas tree. Delicious!