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Saturday, December 5, 2009

12 Days of Cookies - Day 5 - Chocolate Chip and Peppermint Crunch Crackles




As a child, there were definitely times when I was convinced that my mom had a direct line to Santa Claus and really could call him up to cancel Christmas.  She'd pick up the phone and start dialing, and my sisters and I would all panic and try to undo whatever damage we'd done that evening.  I'm pretty sure now that she was calling my dad at work, but she made it sound really good.  =)

Now that I'm a parent, I have a much better appreciation for what she must have gone through.  And I only have two girls, not four.  Earlier this evening, I had to make a trip upstairs, where I threatened my children with not putting up the Christmas tree tomorrow if they didn't stop fighting and be quiet and go to sleep.  Not quite to the point of canceling Christmas, but not far off if they don't settle down and stop driving me crazy... =)  Fortunately, there is one thing that is putting me in the holiday spirit this evening.  It's the fact that my whole house smells of chocolate and peppermint.



Just for the record, a rolling pin isn't that great at crushing small candy canes into pieces.  A hammer works much better. =)  I didn't get to do much of that tonight, but it was nice for venting my frustrations last night, which is when I made the cookie dough for my Day 5 cookie.  It needed chill time, and since I had to work today, I knew I didn't have much chance of getting cookies baked for today unless I made the dough ahead of time.  It's kind of surprising that this is the first chocolate cookie that I'm posting.  And it does have plenty of chocolate in it--a bunch of bittersweet, a little unsweetened, and some chocolate chips thrown in for good measure.  The peppermint comes from both the candy canes and some peppermint extract.  The cookie dough reminded me a lot of brownie batter, which isn't a bad thing considering how much I like brownies.  The recipe says to chill for 3 hours to 1 day.  Mine was in the fridge for just under 24 hours, and it was actually too hard to scoop at first.  I had to let it warm up for about an hour, I think.  Once I was able to work with the dough, I ended up baking my cookies for 11 minutes at 325 degrees F, and got about 3 1/2 dozen from the recipe.




The verdict?  I think it's a very good thing that I'm planning to pack most of these up tomorrow to ship out to someone.  They are way too dangerous to keep in the house.  I ate three already, and it hasn't been that long since I finished baking them.  Gillian seemed to like the one she had for dessert.  I wasn't too surprised when she asked me for more milk, though.  =)  These are quite chocolatey.  Mine didn't get a very crackled appearance, but that's okay.  They had a nice fudgy texture that I really like.  And the candy cane bits added an interesting textural element.  I didn't top my cookies with anything, though I might try that next time.

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe here.  And be sure to check out the other bakers participating in the 12 Days of Cookies to see what they've baked up for today!


Andrea of Andrea's Recipes
(honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
Tiffany of The Nesting Project





9 comments:

  1. Good job, Di, of posting under the wire, of baking steadily for 5 days in a row, and of parenting those two daughters! When mine were their age, I think I prayed for patience every day, and nearly every day I felt that I fell short. But now there aren't two people I'd rather be with than my girls.

    Love the looks of these cookies, and it's good to know I should use a hammer and not a rolling pin!

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  2. I use a hammer a break up the candy and it works great! I was going to pack up my Day 5 cookies and send them off to the Fireman on Monday but I left them out on the kitchen counter and they were gone in less then an hour!

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  3. You have a nice way of styling things to make them look so fun and exciting...even chocolate!

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  4. This one is on my "maybe" list, but I think it may move up, now. :-) They do sound dangerous!

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  5. Ooo - while I don't like the chocolate / peppermint thing, my fiance does. Definitely going to keep these in mind for the next time he asks for cookies!

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  6. I was eying these but I'm to lazy to buy peppermint! I can imagine the great scents wafting through the house.
    Also you are lucky to have the kids held with the cookie baking.

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  7. Ha! I've always found a hammer works best for everything ; ) And our Christmas tree isn't even on the horizon yet. I have to calendar it or it won't get done. There are TONS of peppermint cookies in our selection this year and I'm less than thrilled but will take your word that these have the power to attract my attention. If they're soft, I'm doomed.

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  8. Chocolate with Peppermint sounds perfect to me. I like the decoration on these. Simple and pretty.

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