Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies

Hey y’all! Thanks so much for visiting the baking part of our Handmade Holidays! Don’t forget to visit Kelly for amazing Non-Sewing Gift Ideas and Cindy for some pretty spectacular Sewing Gift Ideas!

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies

Original recipe from Bon Appetite, December 2009

INGREDIENTS:

*
* Nonstick vegetable oil spray
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 large egg yolk
* 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
* 1/2 cup finely chopped red-and-white-striped hard peppermint candies or candy canes (about 3 ounces)
* 2 ounces high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray. Mix flour, salt, sugar, butter, oil, vanilla extract, and egg in a large bowl. (I don’t own an electric mixer, so I skipped this step.)

Drop dough into prepared baking pan.

Using a spatula, press dough to form even layer over bottom of pan.

Bake cookie base until light golden brown and slightly puffed and edges begin to come away from sides of pan, about 30 minutes.
While the cookie base is baking, chop 4 candy canes into pieces

I used the plastic bag + measuring cup method: put candy canes in a plastic baggie and crush with bottom of measure cup on kitchen countertop.

This method worked great. 😀

After about 30 minutes, remove pan and place on rack; immediately sprinkle bittersweet chocolate over. Let stand until chocolate softens, about 3 minutes.

Using small offset spatula, spread bittersweet chocolate over top of cookie in thin even layer.

Immediately sprinkle chopped peppermint candies over chocolate. (Apparently, I didn’t snap a photo of this step? 😳 )

Stir white chocolate in medium metal bowl (I used Pyrex) set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth.

Using fork, drizzle white chocolate all over cookies.

Chill in fridge until white chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

Using large knife, cut cookie into irregular pieces.

These cookies are heavenly! And, don’t they look pretty? Almost gourmet, right? I can’t believe how easy they were to make. If I can make them, anyone can! Definitely give them a try for the holidays!

For more than two years, Tina has shared her life through journaling her daily meals on her blog, Carrots ‘N’ Cake. Each day, she strives to find the right balance without losing out on fun or good taste. Tina also writes a weekly feature for Health.com and directs the social strategy for a nutritional rating company called NuVal. She is currently writing her first book, which will be published in Spring 2011.