Hello! I’ve decided a share a Christmassy cookie today. These cookies are way more delicious than the classic sugar cookie topped with royal icing, but they are still really pretty. They are right between fluffy and dense, giving it a brownie like texture. There is peppermint on top of each cookie, which gives it fresh peppermint flavor that complements the rich chocolate cookie. They also have brown butter in them, which I’ve recently discovered and I now do to almost every cookie that I make.
recipe notes
I based this recipe off of this chocolate cookie recipe. I made a couple tweaks to the recipe and adding different flavors to it.
I didn’t have peppermint extract on hand, so I didn’t add it, but adding a little bit will boost the minty flavor up a little and make it more Christmassy. The peppermint sticks on top actually give quite a bit of mint flavor, so don’t overdo it!
I’ve found that a mix of course and fine granules of peppermint gives the best result: the large ones look untouched and pretty on top and the fine powder gets soaked up by the cookie giving a more uniform peppermint flavor.
You might wonder why there is water in the cookie. Yes, it is weird, but the cookie dough was really dry, so I just experimented with adding some water and it turned out really good.
You can skip browning the butter if you don’t have time but it really gives the cookie that extra oomph it needs. If you have time, don’t skip this step!
Right out of the oven is the most fluffy, but as the cookie cools it sinks and gets denser and little bit more chewy.
peppermint hot chocolate brownie cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3-4 tablespoons of coarsely ground of peppermint sticks, around 2-3 normal sticks
- ¾ cups of water
- ¼ cups chocolate chips (optional, but makes it way more delicious)
- ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all the butter into a medium saucepan and cook it on medium until it gets to a dark brown color. Pour the butter into a large bowl and put it into either an ice bath or the freezer. Make sure it doesn’t solidify all the way.
Add the sugar to the bowl and cream them together with a whisk. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and mix a little. Add the water slowly until it gets slightly sticky.
Roll them into balls slightly smaller than ping pong balls and flatten. Sprinkle the desired amount of peppermint powder on the top and press the large bits into the cookie. Then bake them for 12 minutes, give or take. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool down.
I hope you enjoy this Christmas cookie recipe! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Let me know how these turn out if you try them. What’s your favorite holiday cookie recipe? Bye!
Whimsical Watercolor 