Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Candy Cane Buttercream Filling

It seems I still have holiday baking on the mind. I wrote out a whole bunch of recipes I wanted to bake while I was home, many of which were holiday inspired. I even bought candy canes in order to make these peppermint buttercream filled fudge sandwich cookies and I’m only posting about them now (even though I did make them before the new year started). I also have a box of gingerbread pudding mix I intended to use somehow, but that didn’t really work out since I’m not sure you can still get the pudding mix now. Maybe I’ll wait ‘til next Christmas. Oh well.

So these here are fudge cookies with candy cane buttercream filling. Did I tell you I purposefully bought candy canes for this recipe? Well I did, and I’m not sorry either.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to make sandwich cookies. If you recall, these were my first sandwich cookies I ever made and they were freaking fantastic! I’m a little ashamed to admit that I stuffed my face with more than my fair share… but they were so good. I’m getting a little sidetracked. I want to talk about these fudgy cuties.

The dough was so dark and thick I just wanted to eat it by itself, but I held back, I wanted to make sure I got an even amount of cookies so I could sandwich them all together.

The frosting that goes between these cookies is pure peppermint perfection (some alliteration for you). It was kind of fun to mash the candy canes to make the dust, but it wasn’t fun to clean up. Note to self: make sure to double bag it with hitting things with a meat pounder.

These are definitely best when paired with a glass of milk because it softens the cookie a little bit and makes it kind of fudgier.

Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Candy Cane Buttercream Filling

Slightly adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Makes 21 sandwich cookies

Ingredients

Fudge Cookies

1 cup + 1 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

8 oz. semi sweet chocolate, chopped

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

Candy Cane Buttercream Filling

(Please note I made half this batch and still had about 1/3 remaining, but I tend to be a little reserved when filling cookies)

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 ½ - 3 cups powdered sugar

3 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1-2 tbsp. milk

½ cup candy cane dust*

*To make candy cane dust: place about 8-10 candy canes into a plastic bag and crush with a mallet or rolling pin—something hard and heavy. Place a sifter over a bowl and sift the candy cane bits through. Keep the larger bits for garnish if desired.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

To make cookies: whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Melt the 8 oz. of chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl placed over simmering water. Stir occasionally until chocolate has completely melted. Take the bowl off the heat and set aside to cool. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg mixture. In a steady stream, pour in the melted chocolate. Mix on medium speed until everything is completely blended together. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times. Gradually add the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Take a medium-small cookie scoop and portion out the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Space each dollop of cookie dough about two inches away from each other. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. The dough should still be a little soft when taken out of the oven. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

To make the filling: beat the butter on medium speed with the paddle attachment on a stand mixer. Gently add the powdered sugar. Beat in the vanilla. Pour in the candy cane dust and beat until completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for another minute. Refrigerate the filling for about 5-10 minutes. Frost the bottoms of half the cookies with the filling. Place the remaining cookies, bottom side down, on top of the filling. Keep sandwich cookies refrigerated up to five days.  

Peppermint Kisses

Wow, I can't believe it's already 2012! And I can't believe I'll be turning 18 in just two days! Time really does fly. I know I haven't posted anything since Christmas Eve, but I have a good excuse, honest. You see... I ended up going to my Grandma's house in South Carolina from the 27th to the 31st and then the famly and I went up to New York City for New Years (no I didn't get into Times Square...only the crazies who don't eat or have bladders do that), but I'm back now and I'm posting about cookies that I made in mid December. I know you all have left-over candy canes, so this is a great ways to use those up.

I had an absolute blast making this dough. I don't know why, but I don't think I have ever been so excited over a cookie. Maybe it was the spirit of the holiday season that was filling my brain, but I don't care.

When making this dough I was so giddy because as soon as I added the crushed candy canes to the dough, it all turned pink! I was so excited over this I made everyone in my family look at the rosey pink dough. I think my mom did the best job at being enthusiastic for me. My sister just kinda gave me the "I'm judging you" face.

These cookies were definitely a hit, especially with my mom. She kept nibbling on them all day and the next day. But be careful when baking, because the cookies will still look super puffy and uncooked, but that's when you need to take them out, like ASAP, because they will settle down and crinkle up on the top.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and an awesome New Year. I've already come up with a very long list of what I need to make by the end of this year.

Peppermint Kisses

adapted from Sing for Your Supper
makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
12 mini candy canes (or about 3 large ones?)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
2. In a food processor (or by hand) crush the candy canes to a fine powder. It's ok
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add in the egg and egg yolk and mix on medium for about a minute or until the eggs have fully been incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add in the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat until all of the flour mixture has been incorporated.
4. Using a portion scoop, drop the cookies on the lined baking try, spacing them about an inch and a half apart. Bake for about 6 minutes, no more than 8. The cookies will look very underdone, but don't pay any attention to that, take those cookies out of the oven! Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about a minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Peppermint Biscotti

A few weeks ago I ate a gingerbread biscotti from Starbucks and it was absolutely fantastic. I don’t know why I loved it, I just did. Well that got me to thinking that I want to make gingerbread biscotti for my Christmas baking list. And for the past few weeks I’ve had it in the back of my mind but never really doing anything about it. Well Yesterday I saw a rerun of Gilmore Girls (my favorite show!) and Lorelai and Rory got back from their Europe trip and they were eating biscotti throughout the episode and that sealed the deal for me. So I goggled up gingerbread biscotti recipes and I came across a website with holiday biscotti recipes and as I scrolled down I saw the gingerbread one and then at the very bottom of the page I saw it; the chocolate-peppermint biscotti and my idea for gingerbread biscotti flew out the window and all I could think about was chocolate-peppermint biscotti. And that is the story of how these babies came to be.

It looked so much like chocolate chip cookie dough,

which I didn't expect, but then again it is a cookie in a way...

 Before putting then back into the oven for the second time

 I found it easier to spread the chocolate on one side instead of just

dunking it in. Also i wish i had smashed the peppermints a

little smaller.

Chocolate-Peppermint Biscotti
from Mangia Bene Pasta
makes 3 dozen

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peppermint candy

Directons

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, butter, extract, and eggs. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips.
3. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Shape each into a 10-inch by 2-inch log on the baking sheet, about 3 inches apart and bake 30 minutes or until golden brown. Do Not Shut Off Oven!
4. Remove from oven and place baking sheet in a wire rack to cool 15 minutes and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.
5. Transfer each log to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. Place the slices cut side down on the baking sheets.
6. Bake 12-15 minutes, turning biscotti over once during time. Cool on wire rack.
7. Melt remaining chocolate chips. Dip half of each biscotti into the chocolate and sprinkle with peppermint candy. Allow to cool on waxed paper.

Nutrition Facts
serving size: 1 biscotti
Calories 124.4 Total Fat 4.9 g Saturated Fat 1.8 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g Cholesterol 18.7 mg Sodium 53.6 mg Potassium 14.1 mg Total Carbohydrate 19.6 g Dietary Fiber 0.9 g Sugars 13.3 g Protein 1.8 g

'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