Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Siiiiimplyyyyyyy haaaaaaaaavingg…. a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS TIIIIIIIIIIIIME….

Siiimplayyy haaaavingggg…

Okay. So those are all the words I know to that song.

And maybe I’ve been randomly breaking out into that song since December started.

CHRISTMAS IS THE BEST.

I’m a little obsessed with Christmas, to the point that Trevor has to enforce a rule for the house.

No Christmas stuff until after American Thanksgiving is done.

He has to make the strong clarification of “American” because he’s worries I might try setting up the Christmas tree in October.

Silly Trevor, my rule back in Canada was no Christmas stuff until after Halloween.

 

I am a little sad that Thanksgiving was so late in November this year. My tree has been up for only a couple weeks and will only be up for a couple more.

Trevor says that you have to limit the amount of Christmas you have each year to make sure it’s special.

I like to argue that Christmas is SO SPECIAL that more must be better. Because more of a good thing never goes wrong. Right?

I get that my logic isn’t entirely sound, BUT I LOVE CHRISTMAS SO WHO CARES?

I’m also really bad at holding off on Christmas presents. I’m obsessed with giving people presents, it’s probably one of my favourite things in the world. I just love the hunt of finding the prefect gift and then seeing their faces when they see what I found. I don’t even care about getting presents back, I just really want to give out presents.

And at Christmas, I get to give presents to EVERYBODY!

I bought Trevor a Christmas present 5 months ago because that’s just how crazy I am, and I am very proud of myself for not having given it to him yet.

You hear that Trev? I’ve successfully not given you your Christmas present for 5 months! Must be some kind of record.

Maybe I’ll actually make it to Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone, for however long you do or don’t celebrate it!

Recipe from epicurious.com

Cookies

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg

Filling

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 drops (or more) red food coloring

• 1/2 cup crushed candy canes or hard peppermint candies (about 4 ounces) (I find the tiny candy canes crush the most easily. I like crushing them in a large gallon bag with the bottom of a heavy saucepan.)

Directions

1. Cookies: Whisk flour, cocoa, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Beat in egg. Add dry ingredients; beat until blended. Refrigerate dough 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out dough by level tablespoonfuls, then roll into smooth balls. Place balls on prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Using bottom of glass or hands, flatten each ball to 2-inch round (edges will crack). Bake until cookies no longer look wet and small indentation appears when tops of cookies are lightly touched with fingers, about 8-10 minutes (do not overbake or cookies will become too crisp). Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer chocolate cookies to racks and cool completely.
3. Filling: Using electric mixer, beat powdered sugar and butter in medium bowl until well blended. Add peppermint extract and 2 drops food coloring. Beat until light pink and well blended, adding more food coloring by dropfuls if darker pink color is desired. Spread 2 generous teaspoons filling evenly over flat side of 1 cookie to edges; top with another cookie, flat side down, pressing gently to adhere. Repeat with remaining cookies and peppermint filling.
4. Place crushed candy canes on plate. Roll edges of cookie sandwiches in crushed candies (candies will adhere to filling. I found I also needed to sprinkle some of the candy directly on to the filling and press it in).

Makes approx. 20 cookies. Cookie sandwiches can be made ahead. Store in single layer in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.

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