Two Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Recipes: Bring on the Bark

So keeping with the Chocolate and Peppermint theme, I came across a fabulous recipe in the latest hardcopy issue of Sunset Magazine (and available online). This recipe uses their Chocolate Decadence Cookie recipe that you follow through step 1. Continue with step 2, using your palm to press dough balls into 1/4-in.-thick rounds. Bake as directed and let cool.

Chocolate Peppermint Patty Cookies

In a bowl, mix 3 cups powdered sugar, 4 tbsp. milk, and 3/4 tsp. peppermint extract.
Spread 1 heaping tsp. peppermint icing onto the flat side of 1 cookie.
Top with flat side of a second cookie to form a sandwich, pressing together to squeeze filling to the edge. Roll edge of cookie in crushed and sifted candy canes.

I also found an amazing recipe for Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe posted by Garrett McCord on Simply Recipes. For this recipe, you can purchase peppermint bark or make your own.

1 cup of butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of white granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup of peppermint bark, broken into little chip size pieces

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2 Cream the butter and sugars together for about two minutes at medium speed or until well incorporated and light in color.
3 Add the egg and the vanilla extract until well incorporated, about a minute. Be sure to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl halfway through.
4 Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture slowly, and beating at medium speed, stopping once all of it is incorporated (do not overmix).
5 Fold in the peppermint bark chips.
6 Take small spoonfuls of the dough and roll into one inch sized balls and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for -12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Photo: Leigh Beisch; food styling by Dan Becker

Peppermint Bark Candy to Buy

As I mentioned yesterday, there's nothing like peppermint and chocolate to welcome the holidays. Here's a link to two easy recipes, but if you don't want to make your own, there are several great brands out there that are delicious.

Williams Sonoma Peppermint Bark. This confection is made with custom-blended Guittard premium chocolate and natural oil of peppermint. Starts with melted semisweet chocolate then a layer of white chocolate. Bark is finished with crisp handmade peppermint candy bits. What I love about this is the great reusable red tin with barking Dalmatians.

New this year are the Williams Sonoma Peppermint Bark Cookies. These are chocolate wafers covered in Guittard white chocolate infused with peppermint oil and sprinkled with peppermint candy.

Williams Sonoma also offers Peppermint Snaps, Peppermint Cremes and Peppermint North Poles.

Trader Joe's also makes a good Peppermint Bark. Their candy is pretty heavy and all natural. High quality ingredients and great packaging, and less expensive than some other brands.

Dove has new Peppermint Bark Promises this year. The candy comes in a bag easily available at your local drugstore. Each piece is individually wrapped in a festive foil wrapper. Not only is it a delicious bark candy, but there are special holiday tips on the wrappers from Martha Stewart. This is a variation on Peppermint Bark. There's a chocolate base with white chocolate top with bits of red and white peppermint candies mixed in the white chocolate. Interesting the dark chocolate (not all that dark) melts faster than the white. I really liked these. This is also available in traditional Bark.

Ghirardelli has their Limited Edition Ghirardelli Holiday Squares. I love the Peppermint Bark Squares and have a few stashed in my desk this time of year. Basically a milk chocolate base covered with minty white chocolate filled with crunchies. I'm not convinced the crunchies are pieces of candy cane, but they add great texture to this candy treat.

Haven't tried it yet, but Crate & Barrel has a Peppermint Bark with a dark "fudge" and sweet white chocolate "fudge" that comes in a red metallic tin with hinged lid so it can be reused.

What's your favorite?

World Chocolate Tours and Retreats

Thought these Chocolate Tours would be of interest to readers of DyingforChocolate.com. Wish I could make at least one.

Journey to the Origin of Wild Cacao. January 5-10, 2010. Bolivia.
Join ChocolateLife.com creator/moderator Clay Gordon and Volker Lehmann, owner of the Hacienda Tranquilidad and the person who developed the Bolivian wild cacao market internationally, for an exclusive opportunity to travel to the heart of the Beni region of Iténez province in northeast Bolivia and explore the history, landscape, and culture that produces some of the finest cacao grown in the world today. Scheduled for January 5th through 10th 2010 – peak season for wild cacao in the Iténez province in Bolivia, with the highest concentration of wild cacao in the Beni. Read more here.

Chocolate Retreat in Belize: February 20-February 27: 2010. Join Vanessa Barg, founder of Gnosis chocolate and Clay Gordon, founder of TheChocolateLife.com, for a week of chocolate. Visit a cacao farm, harvest pods, enjoy tastings, learn the ethnobotany of chocolate, traditional Mayan medicinal plants, and more. Make your own chocolate from the Bean to Bring Home! Read more here.

Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Let the holidays begin! I love Peppermint and Chocolate, all year, but especially around the holidays, so throughout December I'll be giving recipes or linking to recipes that include chocolate and peppermint.

First off, several of the great chocolatiers make wonderful Peppermint Bark, a personal favorite. Want to make your own? It's simple and makes great gifts. As always, start with a high grade white chocolate for the very best.

Here's an easy recipe:

WHITE CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT BARK

2 pounds white chocolate
candy canes, crushed to make 1 cup

Heat white chocolate in double boiler over low heat until all is melted. Add crushed candy cane to white chocolate. Make sure white chocolate stays warm. Pour mixture onto wax paper-lined cookie sheet, spreading very thinly with spatula. Place cookie sheet in freezer until the mixture has hardened. Take out of freezer and crack bark into small pieces. Remove from wax paper and store at room temperature. Do not refreeze.

Want to use the microwave? Try this recipe:

MICROWAVE PEPPERMINT BARK

1 lb. white chocolate
1/2 c. crushed candy canes

Place chocolate in microwave-safe dish. Microwave on 50% power, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and of creamy consistency. Stir in crushed candy canes. Spread on cookie sheet and place in the freezer until set (about 20 minutes). Break into pieces.

Want Dark Chocolate with that Peppermint Bark? Check out Stephanie Jaworski's recipe on JoyofBaking.com

And, here's a really cool recipe for Candy Bark on Candy Dish Blog (the official candy blog of the National Confectioners Assn) that uses crushed up chocolate cookies or oreos for the base. Very cool.