Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Have you ever seen a recipe and wanted to make it because it just looked...well pretty? That was the case with these yummy cookies. Through my husband's Aunty Melinda’s website I found a cool (new to me) food blog called A Bountiful Kitchen http://abountifulkitchen.blogspot.com/. She has lots of great recipes but when I saw these cookies I just knew I had to make them. They were so pretty. Hers look even prettier because she has a great camera but I think you can get the picture from mine.

Not only were these pretty but they were also delicious. They were dense and fudgy which I loved. We delivered some to friends and my husband couldn't stop eating the rest.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies


Cookies:
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (regular or mini’s)

Glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
2 drops mint extract, or more to taste
3 1/2 teaspoons half and half or milk

For the cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a mixer beat together the butter with the sugars until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until smooth after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add vanilla. On a low speed beat in the flour mixture a little at a time. Gently mix in chocolate chips.

On an ungreased cookie sheet, drop teaspoons of the batter about 2 inches apart. Bake until just cracked on top, about 8 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time. Flatten the cookies slightly with a spatula after removing from oven. Cool completely.

For the glaze:
In a small bowl mix together the sugar; mint extract and milk until smooth. Transfer mixture to a medium resealable plastic bag and snip off a tiny bit of the corner. Drizzle glaze over cooled cookies. Let cookies stand until set, about 10-20 minutes.

If desired, before glaze sets, sprinkle with chopped mint candy. I actually had some candy canes left in my pantry from Christmas and just threw some of them in my mini food processor to crush them up. Worked like a charm.

Tips:

-Do not over bake. Let the cookies cool completely before glazing. They will continue to cook and set up after you remove from the oven.