Cookie of the Day: Chocolate-Peppermint Crinkles

Holiday season is cookie season! We are all about cookies this month: baking, decorating, gifting and hosting the classic cookie exchange. On Taste, we’ll be sharing 30 days of holiday cookies, so be sure to check back every day for a new recipe! And for more inspiration and great recipes, visit our Cookie Central page.

 

Crinkles, with their snowy white confectioners’ sugar coating and surprise dark chocolate interiors, are given an extra treatment for the holidays with a colorful topping of crushed peppermint candies.

 

Chocolate-Peppermint Crinkles

 

4 oz. (125 g.) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups (10 oz./315 g.) all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups (12 oz./375 g.) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml.) canola, sunflower or other light vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

20-24 red-and-white peppermint candies

1 cup (4 oz./125 g.) confectioners’ sugar

 

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over (but not touching) gently simmering water. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and the granulated sugar until well blended. Add the oil, vanilla extract and melted chocolate and beat again until well blended. Stir in the flour mixture just until fully incorporated. Cover and refrigerate until the dough is firm enough to shape, at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Have ready an ungreased baking sheet.

 

Place the peppermint candies between two sheets of aluminum foil and strike with a hammer or meat mallet, breaking them into large pieces. Then roll the candies with a rolling pin to crush them into small pieces. Set aside.

 

Put the confectioners’ sugar in a shallow bowl. Pinch off a piece of dough and roll it into a ball about 1 inch (2.5 cm.) in diameter. Roll the ball in the confectioners’ sugar, coating evenly, and place it on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used, spacing the balls 1 inch (2.5 cm.) apart.

 

Bake until the cookies have puffed up and the surface cracks, showing the chocolate beneath, 8-10 minutes. Let cool slightly on the pan, and then gently press some of the crushed peppermint all over each cookie. Transfer the cookies to wire racks and let cool completely. Store in layers, separated by waxed paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes about 48 cookies.

 

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Holiday Entertaining, by Georgeanne Brennan.