I’m gonna admit something that could get me into lots of trouble–the holiday season can stress me out. I feel like I’m being pulled in 10 million directions, and as my kids have gotten older, it’s only gotten worse; believe it or not, the kindergarten kids, which include my daughter, will be going to see The Polar Express (hello, creepiest movie EVER) in the movie theater followed by lunch at Outback. 100 5-year-olds. At Outback. The idea of it makes me want a tranquilizer. My son’s Christmas field trip is probably even more elaborate, but at least it’s educational. Throw in dance recitals, church parties, work parties, friend parties, birthday parties, shopping, wrapping, gifting, an elf named Ralphie with a penchant for mischief, and trying to teach my kids what we believe to be the true meaning of Christmas in the midst of it all and my head hurts.
But in the midst of it all, I love to bake. And not baking neighbor goodies (actually, if you really wanna know the truth, our friends and neighbors don’t get baked goodies, they get laundry detergent), but fun baking. Therapy baking. There’s something magical about the weather being yucky and cranking up the Christmas music and the smell of chocolate and peppermint and almond.
McCormick was kind enough to send us some goodies to help us out with our holiday baking. And today, we’re teaming up with one of our very favorite blogging friends, Barbara from Barbara Bakes. She’s posting one of our recipes today (head over there to see which one!) and we’re posting one of hers. And it’s so good.
I have another confession (I’m full of dirty secrets today). First, you know how all the cool kids like bittersweet chocolate? I like sweet chocolate. I do. I think European milk chocolate is heaven on Earth. I like semi-sweet chocolate, but really, truly, when I’m standing in the kitchen all alone and there’s an open bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and an open bag of milk chocolate chips, I’ll grab a handful of the milk chocolate chips.
The original version of this recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate, but I used semi-sweet and it was perfect (for me; I do think milk chocolate would be too much here). I also more peppermint because when it comes to chocolate and peppermint, I have pretty much no restraint or sense of propriety.
You’ll need all-purpose flour, salt (omit if you use salted butter), baking soda, baking powder, unsweetened cocoa powder, butter, eggs (you’ll only need 3…the OCD-ness in me had to fill up the egg holder), and bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I used Ghirradelli semisweet chocolate chips).
You’ll also need vanilla and peppermint extracts.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Spray a mini muffin tin with spray with cooking spray.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder on medium speed until well blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and the beater. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until blended after each addition, about 30 seconds, and adding the vanilla and peppermint extract along with the last egg. Continue mixing on medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and mix until just blended, about 30 seconds. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until well blended, about 1 minute.
Using a mini ice cream scoop or spoon,
drop a tablespoon of dough into each cup of prepared mini muffin tins.
Fill the muffin cups only about 2/3 full. Clearly, you can see that I’m a jerkface and went rogue and filled them more than 2/3 full. They would have been easier to remove from the pan if I had followed the directions, but it also wasn’t catastrophic.
Bake, one tin at a time, until the cookies are puffed and the tops are cracked, 11 to 15 minutes. Be sure not to overbake or they’ll be dry and crumbly. When the cookies are just out of the oven, use the end of a thick-handled wooden spoon to make a small, deep well in the center of each cookie. Let the cookies sit on the muffin tin for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. (At this point, you can fill the cookies immediately, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 month before filling.)
Now, this is just where I went off the grid. Stopped following directions. It’s a disease. To make the filling, combine the ganache ingredients in a small bowl and melt in 30 second increments, stirring well each time, until the chocolate is melted and can be completely incorporated into the cream. Allow to stand for a few minutes to thicken. Transfer to a heavy-duty Ziploc bag or a cake decorating bag. Snip off a small corner and carefully fill the wells in the cookies.
Allow to stand for at least an hour to allow the filling to firm up a little. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies
adapted from from Barbara Bakes via Fine Cooking
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups (6 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups white sugar
1 1/2 oz. (1/2 cup) natural, unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup (3 oz.) bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly (I used semisweet chips)
For the chocolate-peppermint ganache filling
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Instructions:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Spray a mini muffin tin with spray with cooking spray.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder on medium speed until well blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and the beater. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until blended after each addition, about 30 seconds, and adding the vanilla and peppermint extract along with the last egg. Continue mixing on medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and mix until just blended, about 30 seconds. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until well blended, about 1 minute.
Using a mini ice cream scoop or spoon, drop a tablespoon of dough into each cup of prepared mini muffin tins. Fill the muffin cups only about 2/3 full. Bake, one tin at a time, until the cookies are puffed and the tops are cracked, 11 to 15 minutes. Be sure not to overbake. When the cookies are just out of the oven, use the end of a thick-handled wooden spoon to make a small, deep well in the center of each cookie. Let the cookies sit on the muffin tin for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. (At this point, you can fill the cookies immediately, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 month before filling.)
To make the filling, combine the ganache ingredients in a small bowl and melt in 30 second increments, stirring well each time, until the chocolate is melted and can be completely incorporated into the cream. Allow to stand for a few minutes to thicken. Transfer to a heavy-duty Ziploc bag or a cake decorating bag. Snip off a small corner and carefully fill the wells in the cookies. Allow to stand for at least an hour to allow the filling to firm up a little. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
We partnered with McCormick for this post, but any opinions are completely our own.
Questions & Reviews
Do you think almond extract would work for this? My husband and son both despise mint, so I have to get my fix away from home. I don’t think it would be wise to eat the whole batch with my 20 month old. haha
When I first looked at the picture, it looked like there was a Junior Mint on the top of the cookie. They have those peppermint ones out, but I don’t like them- they are too gritty. But a regular one might be something to experiment with instead of the ganache. Is AnnieK’s aka actually Big Debbie? Just wondering 🙂 I agree, Polar Express is creepy. After reading your link, now I know why!
I promise I had NOT read Barbara’s post before I said these looked like a Junior Mint. I guess she and I think alike.
I just made these last night. Someone mentioned muffin tins being hard to get the muffins out. I have found the silicone ones work great. I’m not a huge fan of silicone-I still have things stick in all but the smaller baking types of cakes or muffins but the mini muffin ones are great. You can push out the cookies instead of digging them out or banging them out.
Back to the recipe. Looks and smells wonderful. I took your advice and used my smallest cookie scoop which I think is 1 1/2 T or so. I was able to get 21 more with that size and they are a nice size cookie. So, 59 all total. Not bad! I thought the same about the ganache–seemed thinner than I thought it should be even after putting it in a cold place to thicken more. I used a squirt bottle since it was still pretty liquid and that worked great. It has firmed up but feels a little tacky when touched. I guess if it was any firmer it would take away the effect of soft cookie and soft filling. I also added a sprinkle of some new peppermint candy cane sprinkles to the top before the ganache firmed to help those stick. They look a little more festive and get another hit of peppermint.
Thanks for a great recipe. It was very easy to make and produced a lot of cookies for a group. Can’t wait to deliver them to my librarians in a few hours!
So sorry for people leaving unbecoming comments! You have every right to share your opinions and not be judged. Now, to show I am a dork, in one picture you used the muffin tin to cook the cookies and one you used a cookie sheet. Does it matter which one? Or will it just be a difference in cookie shape?
Thanks, Heidi. 🙂 those are actually the tops of the cookies in the muffin tins. Go check out Barbara’s site for baking times on a cookie sheet because she did it both ways. 🙂
Thank you so much! I didn’t clue into that being the muffing tin and not a cookie sheet. Ü
Ha! Thank you, I was reading the comments specifically because I was wondering the exact same thing. Well that and to learn about creepy zombie eyes, but that goes without saying. 😉
I thought they were cookies at first, too. Then I realized they had just spread over the tops of the muffin cups. And for the record, I couldn’t even finish the movie because I disliked it so much. I don’t remember the creepy zombie eyes, I just remember I thought it completely ruined the book and took the magic away from it.
And I have to watch it tonight at a party with our friends and their kids……….
Creepy zombie eyes. Apparently I am not alone: http://articles.cnn.com/2004-11-10/entertainment/review.polar.express_1_polar-express-film-series-sensors?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ.
I am sorry…exactly WHY do you think Polar Express is “the creepiest movie ever”????? I am unsubscribing from you now. Get a grip.
Unsubscribing and telling someone to get a grip over a difference in opinion about a children’s movie? Pot, meet kettle.
That comment literally made me laugh out loud.
On another note, call me simple but I dont get how the cookies flatten out of the mini muffin tin?
I just filled ’em up too full, so they spread out like that. It was kind of weird. 🙂
Is that all you got from this post? How long have you been reading this blog? Get a grip.
That is too funny. My kids named our elf Ralphie, too, and I don’t know why. And how is it that it’s now the cool thing to make him do crazy stuff when he is supposedly making sure the kids are being good?? But we do get into it. Last night I forgot and luckily woke up before my kids so he hurried and rode the gingerbread train. If you have good ideas, share them! 🙂 The night before that he was on our couch under a doll blanket with a sleep mask cut out of craft foam.
Does the ganache ever thicken? I made it as directed and it’s so thin–should I add more chocolate chips to thicken it?
It should be about as thick as chocolate syrup (maybe a bit thicker) and then it will thicken up as it sits. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl–it will seem like all the chocolate has been incorporated and seem really thin and then all of a sudden, it’s the right consistency.
Argh! When did milk chocolate become lowbrow? I love chocolate in all its forms, so it bugs me when people sneer at the glorious, creamy, sweet milk chocolate. (Looking at YOU, husband.) High five for championing the cause. These cookies look wonderful.
Can I use peppermint oil instead of peppermint extract? I know it’s stronger, how much should I use? Is there a standard ratio?
Thanks,
Julia