With Christmas Eve just two days away, you’re probably thinking about what desserts to serve at your holiday party or how to be festive without going overboard. This time of year, personally, I enjoy baking anything from brownies and muffins to cookies and mini cupcakes. A staple in my household this time of year is a great dark chocolate peppermint cookie recipe from AllRecipes.com. The original recipe is by Jackie Schmidt and features mini mint candies on top. I modified the recipe to include real peppermint candies. Here it is:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips (semi-sweet or unsweetened, your choice)
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10-12 peppermint candies, crushed (you can add more if you’d like)

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in the dark chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl (or electric mixer bowl if you have one) and beat in the eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the chocolate mixture. Here’s the variation: add the crushed peppermint candies into the mixture. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or more.
3. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease cookies sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls (they can be a little bigger) and place 2 inches apart on the greased cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven. Be careful not to overbake. When the cookies come out, some of the peppermint candy may seep out the sides, but that’s okay! It’s supposed to do that. Makes around 3 dozen cookies.

While it’s a little bit of a process to make these, they sure are a popular item at my holiday parties.

What’s your favorite holiday dessert? Let me know in the comments below!

Wishing you all a very happy holiday.

xoxo,

Leigh