These triple chocolate peppermint cookies contain homemade peppermint bark. There are 3 types of chocolate in them that take these over the top!
When my husband saw this recipe in Food & Wine magazine, he got super excited. He immediately bookmarked it and asked me to bake them one day. I finally made the time one afternoon.
As I looked at the recipe, I thought that the dough would make too many cookies. The recipe claimed to only make 24 cookies, but the flour and other ingredients were double the normal amount of cookie recipes. I was worried. I didn’t want to have giant cookies.
I tried making some of the giant cookies (putting 6 cookies on a pan), and surprisingly, they didn’t bake up too large. Instead, they were decent-sized and fluffy. Honestly, I was surprised. I was scared about the other dough so made them normal-sized. As a result, I had to adjust the baking time so they wouldn’t be too crispy.
In the end, I had about 12 larger cookies and at least 45 normal-sized ones. Naturally, I gifted some to neighbors and friends so we wouldn’t have to buy larger pants.
The cookies were wonderfully peppermint-y. I had a lot of leftover peppermint bark so I gifted some to friends as well. My husband even gave some to his swimming friends.
If you don’t need a ton of cookies, I’d recommend halving the recipe below. Otherwise, you could end up with about 50 cookies. This would be great for a cookie exchange if you’re attending one for the holidays.
Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Ingredients
Peppermint bark (can use store-bought as a substitute)
- 12 ounces white chocolate finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2 drops red or pink food coloring/gel
- ½ cup peppermint baking chips or chunks can substitute with about 5 candy canes, crushed)
Cookies
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup crushed chocolate wafer cookies
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 and ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter chilled and cut into cubes
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips melted and cooled
- 4 large eggs
- 1 (12 ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Make the peppermint bark
- Set a piece of parchment paper on top of a baking sheet and set aside.
- In a double boiler, melt the white chocolate. Add the peppermint extract and mix well. Add the red food coloring or gel and mix until you achieve the shade of pink you like. Pour the melted chocolate onto your prepared parchment paper and smooth with an offset spatula into a flat layer. Sprinkle the peppermint baking chips, chunks, or crushed peppermint on top and allow to cool.
- Once the bark has cooled and set, break or cut into small pieces and set aside (note that any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and will last for several days).
Make the cookies
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, crushed cookies, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add the melted chocolate and mix well. Then add the eggs, one at a time, until it's fully combined before adding the next. Turn the mixer down to low and SLOWLY add in the dry ingredients. Be very careful because your bowl will be very full, and flour will fly everywhere if you don't take your time adding in the dry ingredients!
- Stir in the chocolate chips and mix well. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Scoop out mounds of dough so they are about 3 ounces each (about 2 golf ball sizes smushed together). Roll with your hands and place on your prepared parchment paper. Only place 6 mounds of dough on your baking sheet so they have room to spread.Alternatively, you can use a medium cookie scoop and make smaller cookies if desired (if so, you will get at least 50 cookies)
- Bake in your preheated oven for 12-16 minutes or until the tops have set (if baking smaller cookies, bake for 8-10 minutes). The cookies will continue to set as they are cooling. Once you take the cookies out of the oven, top with reserved peppermint bark. Allow to cool completely before serving.