I didn’t grow up eating peppermint bark. I don’t think I knew what it was until I was in high school. But, its a very popular holiday treat. In case you were sheltered like me, it is often a mix of dark and white chocolate and candy cane or peppermint bits. While the candy is fantastic on it’s own, I wanted to try and create a peppermint bark cookie! Most things are better in cookie form if you ask me.
I decided to go with a chocolate shortbread base. I just used dutch process cocoa, not dark chocolate but these cookies still have a great rich chocolatey base. Then they are dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy cane. They are delicious. They are probably a little less minty than peppermint bark on it’s own but still definitely very reminiscent of the original.
Ingredients
Cookie
- 1 cup Unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup Powdered sugar 120g, sifted
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Vanilla
- 35 g Dutch process cocoa sifted
- 210 g AP flour ~1 ¾ cup, sifted
Topping
- 4-6 oz White chocolate
- 3-4 Peppermint candy canes crushed
Instructions
- Add butter and sugar into bowl and cream together either by stand or hand mixer. Once well mixed, add vanilla and salt and incorporate in.
- Sift in cocoa powder and mix into the butter mixture.
- Sift in the flour and using a spatula or spoon mix in the flour until just incorporated.
- Transfer dough to plastic cling wrap, shape into disk and refrigerate for about an hour. Dough can be chilled for longer, however it will need to sit out for about 10 minutes before rolling out.
- After dough has chilled, place either on a lightly floured countertop or between parchment sheets and roll out to ¼ inch thickness. Cookies can be rolled out thicker but it will affect bake time.
- Use a cookie cutter (I used a round 2½ inch) and cut out your cookies. Gather and reroll out scraps to use up dough. If dough gets too warm, place back in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Place all cookies on a parchment lined sheet and chill in the fridge or freezer while your oven preheats.
- Bake cookies on center rack for about 12 minutes. Cookies will still be soft in center. Leave on cookie sheet for 5 minutes after baking then transfer to a wire rack.
- Once cookies have cooled, melt white chocolate either over a double boiler or in the microwave. If using the microwave, use 20 second increments and stir in between to make sure the chocolate doesn't seize.
- Either dip the entire top of cookie into the white chocolate or use an offset spatula or knife to spread over half of cookie. Sprinkle candy cane over chocolate while it's still warm.
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