So I just finished up my annual “bake-off”. This is a great tradition that has been in my family since I was born, (well, probably longer!) All of the women would get together and bake all of the Christmas Cookies for the whole season and for the family Christmas parties. While there is no party for me this year, it was exciting to renew this tradition with my own daughters- even if one of them was 3 weeks old! But my two year old had a blast, and I think I will be cleaning up sprinkles for weeks.

This was a recipe that we added to all of the family favorites this year. It is a crispy dark chocolate cookie, with a smooth white chocolate icing, and topped with crushed candy canes. Very festive, and really quite pretty- these cookies are going into the Christmas repertoire.

Chocolate cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, (not packed)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¾ cups AP flour
1 ¼ cups dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda

powdered sugar for cutting

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix together until everything is well combined.

In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Add them into the butter mixture and gently mix them until just combined but still uniform in color.

Get out a sheet of waxed paper and put half the dough in the center in a thick line. You will roll the paper around it to form a log with the diameter of about 2”. Using the wax paper try to get the soft dough into as round of a log as possible, and twist the ends closed. Repeat with the 2nd half of the dough, and place both logs in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Unwrap the dough logs, and lightly coat them with powdered sugar. Slice them into ¼” discs with a sharp knife. Bake them on a silpat lined baking sheet for about 12 minutes, or until cooked through. It is better to bake fewer cookies at a time, as they spread quite a bit in the cooking process. Let them cool slightly before removing them from the baking sheet. They should be crispy at the edges and slightly chewy in the center. Let the cookies cool while you prepare the white chocolate and peppermint.

Peppermint

1 package of candy canes

Unwrap the candy canes and place them in a Ziploc. Using a heavy rolling pin, smash the candy canes until there are tiny shards and powdered candy canes.

White chocolate icing

2 11oz bag white chocolate chips
2 Tbs corn syrup

Combine the white chocolate and corn syrup in a double boiler over very low heat and melt gently until the chocolate is very smooth and shiny. Place a spoonful on the top of a cookie and spread it evenly with a small offset spatula. While the white chocolate is still soft, sprinkle it with the candy.

Let the icing set up and harden before serving.