Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (p. 769)

I'm already failing at keeping the blog up again.  I'm two months behind but that's fine, I've decided I'm not going to stress over it and I'm not going to backdate posts.  I still have a lot of blog work to do--I have to finish the indexes, change all the side copy, and fix the keywords (to start).  

Cookie baking!  This is our new tradition, started in 2018.  On Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd) we bake cookies.  Lots and lots of cookies.  The goal is so we have those cookies when people stop by, which they do.  I love holiday visits.  Do you bake cookies for the holidays?  What do you make?

I didn't get a final picture of these cookies because...well, because were attempting to make ten types of cookies and it got hard to photograph.  I'm not back in the swing of things yet.  We use a planning board whenever we cook big meals to stay on task.  Guests have gotten good at walking into the house and going over to the board to see what's on the menu.

The planning board--you will see this a lot

Double-chocolate peppermint cookies (p.769) use the same base as Soft and chewy sugar cookies (p. 768).  

Flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt were sifted into a bowl.  Remember, measure and then sift.

In another bowl sugar  and butter were mixed until light and fluffy. 

Spin spin spin

This takes longer than you think it's going to take.  Don't rush it.  I added peppermint extract and then an egg.  I know peppermint extract might not be something that everyone has in their pantry but you really need it if you want to bake a lot.  I love the smell of mint so it was nice and invigorating.  Side note: If you get the opportunity to go to the Celestial Seasoning tea plant, I highly recommend it.  The room where they store the mints is awesome--clears your sinuses it's so strong.  The most interesting thing I learned there is they clean with air because if you cleaned with water you make tea.

The flour mixture was added in.  Of course at this point I divvied up the dough into balls, completely forgetting the chocolate chips.  I had to add all the balls back into the bowl, add the chocolate chips, and do it all over again.  

The dough  was rolled into balls, then broken in half and rolled into balls again.  

We sprinkled turbinado sugar on top.  (What? You don't have a selection of sugars to use at home??  Plain brown or white sugar would have been fine).  They were cooked  for about ten minutes.

Remember, I forgot to take a final picture but they essentially looked like this, just cooked.  The cookies were extremely chocolaty and very, very minty.  The phrase "an Andes mint on steroids" was mentioned.  If you like chocolate/mint combos, make these.  You will love them and they aren't very difficult.

Random facts:

• Peppermint is a hybrid of watermint (wtf is watermint?) and spearmint.
• Peppermint is considered an invasive species in much of the world.  It's extremely fast growing.