'Tis the Season for Holiday Baking: Peppermint-Chocolate Chip Cookies

I absolutely love the holidays, but Christmas is my favorite! Call me insane, but I love the crowds and buying the perfect thing for everyone and I definitely look forever for my families gifts. Plus there's the holiday baking that is always amazing and the house always smells so delicious for days on end. Well this season I'm going to be baking up a storm, I just know it :)

About a week ago I saw these on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody and I knew I just had to make them. They looks so delicious and peppermint is the flavor of Christmas (along with other things), right? I had to make a few modifications because of things that I had and didn’t have. They turned out kind of crunchy (not the peppermint part, but the actual cookie itself) and I’m not really a crunchy kind of girl when it comes some kinds of cookies. I think they would be a lot better if they were chewier or softer, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like these cookies. They are great for the holiday season and they taste really good with milk, but what cookie doesn’t?

The lovely dough...mmm

they were suppost to be disks cut from a log but I

 was too lazy and rolled them into balls

A little too crisp for my taste, but overall they were yummy!

cookies and milk :)

Peppermint-Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz

I made 31 cookies from half the batch

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1 1/4 cups)

3/4 tsp. baking soda (about 1/2 tsp)

1/8 tsp. salt (small pinch)
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1/2 cup {1 stick})
1 cup packed light brown sugar (1/2 cup)
3/4 cup granulated sugar (about 1/2 cup)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (1/2 tsp)
2 large eggs, at room temperature (1 egg)
7 ounces milk chocolate chips (3 1/2 oz semi sweet mini chocolate chips)
7 ounces Andes Peppermint Crunch Chips (2 1/4 oz of a big peppermint candy)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a bowl by hand), beat together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla on medium speed just until smooth, about 2 minutes
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly incorporated, then stir in the flour mixture followed by the chocolate and peppermint chips.
3. On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough into quarters or halves if you are halving the recipe. Shape each quarter into a log about 9 inches long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, preferably for 24 hours (do this part for real please) For the first batch, I froze it for 10 minutes and refrigerated it for about 30 and the second batch I refrigerated it for 24 hours, I didn't see a difference.
4. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
5. Slice the logs into disks ¾ inch thick and place the disks 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and set about 2.5-3 inches apart, if you flatten the balls then it will give you a much larger cookie. If the chips crumble out (and they will), simply push them back in, they reshape nicely.
6. Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until the cookies are very lightly browned in the centers, about 10 minutes (took me about 12 minutes).
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.

Nutrition Facts
serving size: 1 cookie
Calories 99.9 Total Fat 4.4 g Saturated Fat 0.9 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g Cholesterol 14.6 mg Sodium 27.7 mg Potassium 2.0 mg Total Carbohydrate 14.6 g Dietary Fiber 0.1 g Sugars 10.3 g Protein 0.7 g