It’s December, which means it time for all of the Christmas cookies. For all of your holiday baking needs, let me introduce you to these double chocolate chip candy cane cookies.
These cookies are packed with a double dose of chocolate and are complemented nicely by the mint flavor from the crushed candy canes. I also love the look that it adds when the candies melt and ooze out from the cookies a little bit. I mean, just look at them!
Speaking of appearance, I learned something about how you prep the dough for baking that has a significant impact on the look of the finished cookies. As promised in my most recent post, here are the details.
In my usual cookie baking, I use my handy-dandy cookie scoop to portion the dough evenly and then just plop it onto the sheet for baking. That’s in fact what I did with the first batch of these puppies. I noticed that some of the shapes were a little more distorted than I would have liked, so I decided to scoop the dough and the roll them with my hands into nice spheres to try to get them as perfectly circular as possible once baked. (The melting candies still put a stop to that, but I was okay with it.)
In addition to helping with the shape, I noticed that the texture on the surface of the cookies was drastically different, too. My guess is that it had something to do with the heat from my hands interacting with the cookie dough, and the results are astonishing. So if you’re ever trying to get smooth, shiny cookies, be sure to roll the cookie dough with your hands before baking. (And if you like it rough, then proceed as usual.)
Double Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookie Recipe
These cookies are packed with a double dose of chocolate that is complemented nicely by the peppermint from the crushed candy canes.
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup crushed peppermint candies
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add the butter and both sugars to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment; cream together on high speed until perfectly smooth and homogenous, about 3 minutes. (You can also use an electric mixer or get a workout for your biceps by doing it by hand.) Add the egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Lower the speed and add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt to form the cookie dough. Mix in the chocolate chips and crushed candies.
- Scoop the cookie dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon balls, roll with your hands, place onto the prepared baking sheet and bake until the cookies have spread and the tops have puffed up, 10 to 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. (The cookies will deflate as they cool.)
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