You should make these cookies immediately if you:

• Breathe
• Like the combination of chocolate and peppermint
• Are addicted to Trader Joe’s Chocolate Peppermint Joe Joe’s
• Have long curly-hair and live around the corner from me
• Happen to be my best friend who lives in Texas

After planning a cranberry dessert for Mr. Darcy, my sister and I set our minds to find something less fruit-flavored as a second offering.  We decided to give my new cookbook a test run with this recipe for Peppermint Patty Cookies.  Lovely, lovely goodness, and not at all difficult.  Just give yourself an extra hour to chill the dough. Well, hurry, you’ll need to get started now if you’re going to eat them soon.

Don’t let the title, Peppermint Patties, fool you. I don’t even like peppermint patties. Think Peppermint hot chocolate cookie.  Get your beaters ready.

Peppermint Patties(or Peppermint Oreos)
from the The Farm Chicks in the Kitchen

• 14 tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus 2 tbs
• 1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1  1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• 1 tsp milk or light cream
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips(or bittersweet bar, such as Scharffen-Berger)

Prepare the dough:
Cream 10 tbs butter in large bowl. Add granulated and brown sugars until fluffy.  Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Add flour, cocoa powder, and salt with the mixer on low speed, beating until combined.  Roll the dough into a 10 x 2 inch log, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Bake the cookies:
Preheat 375 degrees.  Cut dough into 1/4 inch slices.  Place 1 inch apart on sheet(they will not spread).  Beat until just firm to the touch, 7-8 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool(cookies will break if you allow them to cool on cookie sheet).

Fill the cookies:
Cream the remaining butter, confectioner’s sugar, peppermint extract, and milk in a small bowl with mixer until blended. Sandwich the cooled cookies with filling.

(We almost skipped this next step, but decided at the last minute to dip a handful of them and they really completed the taste.)

Dip the Cookies:
Melt chocolate of choice, dip half cookie in melted chocolate and place on parchment or wax paper until chocolate is firm.

Notes: We added the green and red tint to the cream for added snap to these cookies.  Next time, to mimic the TJ’s cookies that we love so much, I’ll crush a few candy canes or peppermints into tiny pieces and mix it into the filling before adding to the cookies.

We’ve introduced a new tradition for the season.  Each child gets to pick one holiday cookie recipe, alternating a recipe a week.  Jellybean got to pick first and she wanted the gingerbread shaped men without the ginger so we went with a sugar cookie recipe.  While we were making them she referred to them as “Sugarmen”, a name worth keeping around.

I’ve tried different sugar cookie recipes before but never found that right one. Soft and chewy, a little crispy in the bottom. This year, Mary Engelbreit came through for me with a recipe that did it all. Others agreed so I thinks it’s a winner.

In case you find yourself in the same boat, ready to run out and buy the Pillsbury sugar dough, give this recipe a try.

Make some Sugar Camels while you at it.

Mary Engelbreit’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup(2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• Colored Sugar and multicolored sprinkles

1.Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
2.In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then the vanilla. On low speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture.
3. Divide dough into thirds, shaped each piece into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for atleast 2 hours, or overnight.
4.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5.On lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out Christmas shapes with cookie cutters and place 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Decorate with colored sugar and sprinkles.
6.Bake for 10 minutes, or until edges begin to brown.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. If you would like to hang these on your tree, you can use a skewer to make a hole as soon as they are removed from the oven and then add ribbon after cooled completely.

Note: For me, sprinkles will always be made my Granny’s way. A few bowls of sugar, food coloring added until bright green and red colors appear.  Sprinkle generously.

Unless I’m in the mood for the the old time Nestle Tollhouse Cookie recipe, this one right here is my favorite.  It’s on the “not so bad for you” scale and of course, I use Ghirardelli semi-sweet or 60% cocoa chips.  The dough and the cookies-yum.  If the ingredients seem odd for you, just read below the recipe for suggested substitutions with more familiar ingredients.  Today’s batch went to a friend in need, and only a few for us to munch.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup Sucanat w/ Honey
• 1 cup Sucanat
• 2 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2 cups fresh Hard White Wheat Flour
• 1 cup Oatmeal
• ½ cup milled Flax Seed
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups nuts, chopped(optional)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups Chocolate Chips (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350⁰.
2. Cream butter, Sucanat, and Sucanat w/Honey making a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Mix dry ingredients and stir into creamed mixture. Add nuts and Chocolate chips. Make into 1″ balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet 2″ apart.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
4. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
5. from the Breadbecker’s Recipe Book

Aimee’s Notes: We use freshly milled hard red wheat flour.  You can also substitute with store bought whole wheat or white whole wheat flour.  I recommend the king arthur brand-which is more finely ground than the other whole-wheat choices out there.  Sucanat can be replaced with white sugar and Sucanat with honey can be replaced with brown sugar.  I cut both sugar measurements to 3/4 cup each instead of 1 cup each.