Peppermint Bark Cookies

in Candy, Chocolate, Christmas, Cookies and Bars, Peppermint Bark
Peppermint Bark Cookies

It’s the moooost wonderful tiiiime of the yeeaaaarrr!

This time of year is full of carbs and butter and more carbs and sugar and chocolate everywhere you look. And envelope adhesive. Nearly 100 Christmas cards worth. I gotta remember to order the fancy sticker envelopes next year. Blech.

Something else that’s everywhere in a million forms? Peppermint bark. AND I LOVE IT IN EVERY SINGLE FORM. And it made an appearance in The Christmas Cookie of the Year this year.

Peppermint Bark Cookies

I peppermint barked (it’s a verb now, too) The Emergency Cookies. Twice. Because calories don’t count again until January 1st, right?

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with The Emergency Cookies as written. But I added a couple of extra tablespoons of flour to keep them more contained. And then when they came out of the oven, I lightly pressed down with a large spoon, creating a divot on the top. Think thumbprint cookies… only they’re bigger so… spooonprint cookies.

Peppermint Bark Cookies

The final product? A ridiculously dense, insanely fudgey cookie, topped with melted white chocolate studded with crushed peppermint candies.

Merry Chocolate! I mean Christmas.

Peppermint Bark Cookies

Ridiculously dense, insanely fudgy chocolate chunk cookies topped with white chocolate and crushed peppermint candies.

Ingredients

  • 16 oz semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 8 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 scant tsp sea salt
  • 4 large eggs, room temp
  • 1 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 12oz packages of dark chocolate chunks or chips
  • 3 4oz Nestle White Chocolate bars
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp shortening
  • 6 oz bag of peppermint candies, unwrapped and crushed in a zip-top bag

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment or a nonstick mat.
  2. Heat chopped semisweet chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second increments, stirring in between, until just melted.
  3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
  4. In the bowl of your mixer, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until the sugar has completely dissolved (4-5 minutes).
  5. Reduce speed to low and add the melted (and now, cooled) chocolate. Mix until uniform.
  6. Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips/chunks until just combined.
  7. Let dough sit 10 minutes - this will allow the chocolate to cool and prevent the cookies from spreading.
  8. Scoop (I use a small scoop that holds ~2 Tbsp) dough ~2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets (I put 12 on an 11x17 pan). The dough should be very stiff and will hold the scooped round. Roll the dough balls in your hand so the final product will come out smooth and crackly and not scraggly.
  9. Bake 6 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake another 6 minutes.
  10. When the pan comes out of the oven, use a large spoon to lightly press on the top of the cookie, creating a divot to hold the melted white chocolate.
  11. Cool the cookies on sheets for 6 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool completely (I do this right after I rotate the pan that's in the oven).
  12. Break the white chocolate into squares. Put in a bowl with the shortening and heat on 70% power in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until just melted.
  13. Fold in the crushed peppermints.
  14. Using a small spoon, transfer 1-1 1/2 tsp of white chocolate mixture onto the top of the cookies to fill the divot. You don't have to be precise - you'll get the feel of how much the cookies can hold as you go along.
  15. Store cookies in an airtight container for... I mean, how long are they really going to last?

Notes

Yields: ~5 dozen cookies

Adapted from The Emergency Cookies

Estimated time: 1 hour 30 minutes

5 comments… add one
  • Kerri J

    Wow wow wow. I’ve made your emergency cookies before. I can imagine that these are extra festive!

  • Brandi

    uummm… these should have been at the cookie exchange. I’m feeling cheated.

  • I made this for tonight’s cookie exchange! They have turned out perfectly, however, I am worried about the peppermint bark not completely hardening. Do you think I should put them in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden up and then bring back to room temp before serving or just having them a bit melty?!

    • I left mine on the counter and bagged them up maybe 1.5-2 hours later? The white chocolate had completely cooled and set by then.

  • Heather

    I made these last year and loved them! But I didn’t pin the recipe and I was googling like a crazy person to find them again…

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