Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Who's ready for Christmas baking to begin?!

I am more than ready. It's weird because normally, I don't really enjoy baked goods. I would much rather have an extra portion of something savory that a subpar brownie with ice cream on top. But something about the Christmas spirit turns that all around for me. You might be thinking "but you bake a lot", and yes, I do, but luckily I have friends and coworkers who are more than eager to gobble up the goods.

The first time I attempted to make these cookies, I had a brain fart and combined all the dry ingredients together, then had to sit and scoop out all of the sugar so it could be creamed with the butter. It was an experience for sure. But now, I've figured it out - sugar doesn't go with your dry ingredients.

These are really fun to make because they don't have to be perfect. I also have made the frosting green before and put Andes Mints on top which would be very festive for this time of the year or Saint Patrick's Day. But you can dye the frosting whatever color you want and add whatever sprinkles you want - you have full decorating autonomy. I would recommend using the Wilton Gel Food Dye as it doesn't alter the taste or consistency of the frosting.

Chocolate Mint Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 cups AP flour
½ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Peppermint Frosting
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
4 tablespoons milk
Food coloring
6 Candy Canes, finely crushed

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 sheet pans with silpats, parchment paper, or oil them down.
With a mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and the peppermint extract and beat until fully incorporated.
In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and then mix them into the batter.
Combine the ingredients well and then fold in the chocolate chips.
Scoop the cookie dough out onto the sheet pans, leaving room for them to spread.
Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove the cookies and set aside to cool. Continue with remaining cookie dough.

To make the frosting, combine all of the ingredients in a mixer and whip together. Start out on a slower setting so the powered sugar stays in the bowl and doesn’t fly all over your kitchen.