The holidays are my favorite time of year for a multitude of reasons, but mostly Christmas music, Christmas movies, and Christmas cookies! I strictly enforce the four main food groups for the month of December—“candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.” My fiancé may complain about a new baked good coming out of the oven every other day, saying that I must be trying to fatten him up, but I simply do not see where the problem lies.

Dark chocolate and peppermint are staples during this season, so I am going to let you in on this amazingly decadent recipe for Dark Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies, originally stumbling upon my inspiration recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction blog (which is a MUST read, or, even better, bookmark). I could ramble on about her story, career change, and adorable dog for days, but I’ll let you discover that for yourself. I have made a few adjustments for myself, so now please read this, run to the closest supermarket, and bake away !

Ingredients

Butter (room temp)—10 oz, or 2.5 sticks

Granulated Sugar—8 oz, or 1 C

Brown Sugar—8 oz, or 1 C

Eggs—2

Peppermint extract—0.2 oz, or 2 tsp

Flour—13.5 oz, or 2 1/4 C

Cocoa Powder—6.25 oz, or 2 C

Baking Soda—0.4 oz, or 2 tsp

Salt—0.1 oz, or 1/4 tsp

Milk—1 oz, or 2 TBL

Powdered Sugar—for rolling

Hershey Candy Cane Kisses—for decoration

The process

Using your Kitchenaid, (or a spatula, or hands!), cream the butter and both of the sugars until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and extract, making sure to scrape down the sides as needed.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; add to mixer.

Once it has come together, add the Tablespoon of milk, and mix until combined.

VERY IMPORTANT: this dough must chill for about 2 hours before rolling into balls. It is quite sticky, which you will find out once you sample the dough, therefore this step is crucial!

Once chilled, I like to roll the dough into 1.5 oz balls, but a Tablespoon will do as well. Now you may either bake or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator/freezer.

Once ready to bake, you will roll each ball in powdered sugar, be generous! Press the ball down a tiny bit, bake at 350 F for about 11-12 minutes.

Once the time is up, take out of the oven, put onto a cooling rack and let sit for about 3-4 minutes. Now you will take something known as perfection (or a Hershey’s Candy Cane Kiss), and place in the center of the cookie.

You may either wait for your sweetie to taste the first one, or sneak one of these and hope your teeth aren’t covered in chocolate gooey goodness. But nonetheless, enjoy these incredible bites of holiday heaven

Bon Appetit!