Today I felt inspired to bake. I was going to make gingerbread cookies, but I didn’t have enough molasses, so instead I found a festive recipe for peppermint bark cookies.
There was only one problem: I didn’t have peppermint bark, but I did have the ingredients to make some.
At this point I probably should’ve made peppermint bark and then continued on with making cookies, but using classic Kindliean logic I figured that it was the flavors that mattered, not how they were added. So instead of using 1 1/4 cups of peppermint bark I used the rest of the bag of chocolate chips and whacked some peppermints with a hammer. I also added a half tablespoon of peppermint extract for good measure.
My cookie baller is busted, so I used my tablespoon to pile up little mounds of dough. About five minutes after they came out of the oven, Gavin came into the kitchen “what smells so good?”
He then picked up the most browned cookie, questioned my liberal interpretation of the recipe, declared the cookie would taste better with milk, and vanished back upstairs.
If I still believed in Santa I think I’d leave these cookies out for him. As it is, I think I’ll let Gavin take them to his co-workers.
Peppermint Bark Cookies
inspired by http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000015.html
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 1/4 cups peppermint bark (purchased or homeade) chopped
.
about 8 candy canes crushed with a rolling pin for topping cookies (optional)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)
2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.
3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the peppermint bark.
4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20-23 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.
Note- If you are topping cookies with crushed candy canes, open door to oven 2 minutes before cookies are going to be finished, and sprinkle tops with candy canes. Then cook 2 more minutes.
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
*I used the rest of the bag of semi-sweet choco chips, 1/2 tbsp peppermint extract 1/2 dozen peppermint candied wacked w/hammer, 4-6 Ghiradelli peppermint bark chopped… 15 min. @ 350*F
i miss kindliean logic.