peppermint bark snickerdoodles

 Last month some of the gals at work did a very thoughtful and generous thing for me. I've had some stuff going on this fall and they were a big help. I wanted to thank them a long time ago, but I just hadn't had the time. This last weekend I found myself with a bit of free time so I decided to make some peppermint bark snickerdoodles.

They were delicious, if I do say so myself. But unfortunately I only ended up with half a batch because the other half got burnt.

This is the recipe that I adapted mine from, but I had to make some changes because I didn't have cream of tartar. It's a great recipe, but it also resulted in my horribly burnt cookies. The bottoms were black and they turned into rocks. Here's my version:

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint flavor

Preheat oven to 375. Line your cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set this aside. In a larger bowl, mix together sugar and butter until well combined, using an electric hand mixer. Add eggs, vanilla and peppermint until well combined. Slowly add dry ingredients. You can use your handmixer at first, but I found that after a fashion, using my hands worked better. Kneed your dough until all ingredients are well combined.

Roll pieces of dough into 1/2" - 1" balls and place evenly and well spaced on parchment paper. Flatten into 1/4" thick patties using a small jar or glass.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, move to cooling rack.

For the icing:

Using an electric hand mixer beat together 1 egg white and 1 cup confectioner's sugar, at first on low until combined, then for a few minutes on high. If you like, add in 1/8 tsp peppermint flavor or vanilla extract. (Note: the latter may result in a more yellow icing.)

Once cookies have cooled completely, dip them flat into the icing, then flat into crushed peppermint candies. I used candy canes, which I crushed up. My guess is, for a full batch, you would need about 4 regular sized candy canes, or maybe half a small bag of peppermint candies.

The end!

Peace,
-A.