Chocolate Glazed Peppermint Cookies

How about another one of those Christmas recipes I was talking about?

Oh these are so good. For the past two years, I've gotten Better Homes and Gardens Christmas cookie magazine that they publish every year. Completely worth it, you should invest in it later this year. Some of the best cookie recipes are in it. 

Including this one! I've been keeping an eye on this recipe for 2 years and I finally got around to making it last weekend. Better late than never right?

I love a recipe that does exactly what it says it's going to do and this one does it. 

They're kind of like the Girl Scout thin mints, except a little softer. But still crumbly, and minty, and good.

Chocolate-Glazed Peppermint Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

Chocolate Peppermint Coating

2 12 oz packages semisweet chocolate pieces

1/4 cup shortening

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies (optional)

1. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.

2. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a 10-inch roll. Wrap each roll in plastic wrap or waxed paper. Chill about 1 hour or until dough is firm enough to slice.

3. Preheat oven to 375. Cut rolls into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are firm. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool.

4. In a medium saucepan, combine the semisweet chocolate pieces, shortening, and peppermint extract. Cook and stir over medium low heat until chocolate and shortening are melted.

5. Dip each cookie into chocolate peppermint coating, turning to coat all sides of the cookie. Using a thin metal spatula, scrape off excess coating so cookie is covered with a thin layer (reheat coating as necessary). Place cookies on cookie sheets lined with wax paper. If desired, sprinkle with crushed candies while coating is still wet. Chill until coating is set.

Okay I will say this, you'll probably have chocolate coating left over. You'd probably be okay doing a little less than what it says, that's up to you though. Also, I put mine on wire racks to let the chocolate drip down, after being dipped. Then, I put them in the fridge for just a little bit to set up slightly, then removed them again so that they didn't set completely to the racks. Does that make sense? I let them set completely at room temperature. I was just worried about them setting up on cookie sheets with a pool of chocolate around them. I suppose if you really wanted to, you could set them up on a cookie sheet and just scrape off as much of the coating as possible, while still leaving the cookie covered.

These should be layered between sheets of waxed paper, in the fridge, to store them.

This is how the butter should look after it takes a beating!

Look, there's probably going to be jokes about this looking like poo wrapped in plastic. Just accept it and move on. They're good cookies. It's worth it.

This is how they should look after baking, see how the edges are set?

Mmmmmmm

Here's how you need to store them!

Merry Christmas!

Recipe source: Better Homes and Gardens

Cake Balls

Ok so I know I said last week I'm not going to be experimenting so much anymore (for the sake of time and money), but this week I ended up experimenting. Everything was already in my kitchen though, so it seemed like a relatively easy project at first...

I have been hearing about cake balls for about a year now. They didn't sound all that exciting to me at first, but this past week I took a truffle class (YAY!!) and a girl there was raving about them so I decided to give them a try.

I will probably never make these again, not because they didn't turn out tasty, but because it literally took me all day to make them. And they get ridiculously messy in the dipping process. I baked the cake Sunday morning after I woke up. Then it cools for 30 minutes. Then it's mixed in with the frosting. Then you have to refrigerate that mixture for a good 3 hours so it sticks better. Then you ball them. Then you freeze them. Then you dip them. Then you have a chocolate covered stove.

The licking my fingers part was most fun :)

Cake Balls

1 box cake mix

1 (16 oz) container frosting (I made my own from scratch...)

Either chocolate squares or almond bark for dipping

1. Prepare the cake mix according to the package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes (I just did it in a 9x13 pan, but it doesn't matter because you're going to crumble it up anyways). When cake is done, allow to cool at least 30 minutes, then crumble into large bowl and stir in frosting. Refrigerate 3 hours.

2. Using a melon baller, tablespoon, or ice cream scoop, shape into balls, then freeze until it holds well.

3. Melt chocolate coating in a microwave or double boiler, stirring until smooth.

4. Dip balls into chocolate and then place on wax paper to set.

One thing that is nice about cake balls though, is that you can be very versatile. A friend of mine told me that her daughter made them the other day, and she did red velvet ones! YUM!

Chocolate Walnut Caramels and Chocolate Almond Toffee. Meh.

I feel very mediocre about this past weekend's culinary endeavors. I've been wanting to make a candy or chocolate type something for awhile. While I haven't yet gotten the patience to actually temper chocolate, I made caramels and toffee and dipped/spread them with chocolate.



Here is the caramel becoming caramel. I just want to take a moment to say thank you to the woman that invented the clip that holds a candy thermometer on a pot. I say woman because I'm pretty sure a man didn't do it.

These sounded really good in writing. I followed the directions, cooked it to the right temperature, got fresh walnuts from HEB, etc. It just turned out...weird. When I think of caramel, I think chewy, buttery goodness. This was really hard to chew and I think it requires way too much cooking time.

Here's the toffee getting chocolate covered! I've included this picture for the sake of showing off one of the skirts I got in Ireland (I got 3...). It's really cute! This picture does it no justice...

Out of the two candies I made, I tolerated this one the best. It has toasted almonds in it that added a nice after taste. I liked the toffee, Mike gushed about the "caramel". It's clear that I need a neutral judge that's not myself or sealed to me for time and all eternity to tell me how my food really tastes.

I know where the blame falls for me not liking what I made this week. Mom, this is entirely your fault. If you hadn't raised me on the most amazing homemade caramel and toffee then I probably would've liked these two recipes.

Maybe it was the time of year. When I think of caramel and toffee and dipping things in chocolate, I think of Christmas. For now, I'm not going to share the recipes for these. I didn't like them, so I'm not endorsing them! HA! As soon as I get my mom's recipes, I will share those though :)