Double Dark Candy Cane Crunch Cookies

Can you believe it’s already December?! It’s such a fun month and the perfect way to start it off is with this month’s Chocolate Party! The theme for December is chocolate and mint. It’s such a natural and easy combination to work with this time of year, so this probably won’t be the only recipe you see of the merriment this month.

I was so excited to see that mint was paired with chocolate for this month’s challenge. Thomas doesn’t like the combo. He always says “it’s like eating a candy bar after you just brushed your teeth”. So I rarely make it because I’ll be the one eating it all. I just happened to need a batch of delicious cookies to go to a fun Bloggers’ cookie exchange in Salt Lake this past weekend. The timing was great, the party was a blast, and the woman I got to meet were so fun. I think I’ll post about that shin-dig tomorrow.

I love this dark chocolate cookie dipped in dark chocolate; all that strong chocolate pairs perfectly with the light fresh peppermint middle. Candy canes are processed to sand and then added to a thick buttercream for the filling. I like the little pieces of candy cane that catch on the tongue… it’s different than eating just a mint flavored center. I know you’ll love it.

Double Dark Candy Cane Crunch Cookies

For the dough
1 1/4 cups butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup dutch processes cocoa or dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour

In a stand mixer, with a cookie paddle attached, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add half of the flour and mix. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time until you get a pretty dry dough. Don’t be worried if the dough is a bit dry…we want a cookie that doesn’t spread when baked and is crispy! Divide the dough in half and pat together to form a disk. Cover the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Remove plastic from one disk and roll your dough out between two pieces of parchment paper or on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Use a 2 inch circle cutter to cut out the cookies. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes. It’s super hard to tell when a near black cookie is done. I baked mine for 10 minutes the first round and they tasted burnt on the bottom, so you’ll need to adjust as you go. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool.

Notes:

A big thanks to Roxana over at Roxana’s Home Baking for setting all of this up.

Being part of the Chocolate Party group means that you all get access to the other ladies’ recipes too. Here is the collection of recipe from this month’s Chocolate Mint Challenge. Just click on the icon to access whatever else looks good, and be sure to check back because people will add to the collection as the month goes on. If you have your own chocolate/mint recipe, you’re free to add it to the collection and share the love.