Chocolate peppermint sugar cookies

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  Now that the big meal is behind us, we can officially start making Christmas cookies!  I look forward to this moment all year long because the ritual of making cookies - filling the house with the aromas of sugar, butter, spice, and, of course, chocolate - and sharing these special morsels with loved ones, or to gift to others, is a big part of the holidays for me.

I'm so excited to be in my little kitchen baking cookies for the holidays.  Last year this time, we were living in a bit of a construction zone as we renovated our kitchen. Because of that, there was very little in the way of homemade cookies, or any cooking or baking in general, and I missed it dearly. 

It aways seems like there's so little time to make, eat, and share cookies during the holiday season so let's start early and savor it the best we can.  My agenda's pretty full with a few family favorites that I have to make but I also like to fit in a few new (to me) recipes.   So I started by making these chocolate peppermint cookies, which are delightfully soft and chewy on the inside while a coating of granulated sugar on them a light crunch on the outside.

These cookies are based on The Sweet and Simple Kitchen's chocolate espresso sugar cookie recipe.  I love the texture combination of a chewy interior and crackly exterior but as good as espresso sounds, I wanted to go for with peppermint flavor for the holidays (very much like these cookies).  I went fairly easy on the peppermint so that in the end, you have a soft and chewy chocolate sugar cookie with a cooling peppermint effect in your mouth.

Soft chocolate sugar cookies (and ice cream sandwiches)

The other week, I made a batch of vanilla ice cream with the idea of using some of it to make ice cream sandwiches with these cookies.  Well, I used the ice cream to make hot fudge sundaes and it wasn't until we were nearly finished with the batch of ice cream that I remembered what I originally had in mind!  Luckily, there was enough left to make a couple of these little ice cream sandwiches happen. 

So small batch baking continues at my house!  This is a small-batch recipe that makes 8 cookies but you can certainly double the recipe; it's a good idea because my family and I found them quite delectable!    

While I'm very familiar with the delicious, crisp "plain" vanilla sugar cookies, I really hadn't had soft chocolate sugar cookies before.  I'm very happy I tried these because they're easy to make and have a wonderful texture - soft and slightly chewy.  The chocolate flavor is strong - almost more so than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise.  A coating of granulated sugar on the outside give the cookies a little sparkle and a nice textural contrast with a little crunch.

The original recipe pairs these cookies with a raspberry curd but my mind went straight to ice cream sandwiches.  I find cookies with a soft texture very compatible for making ice cream sandwiches; while they certainly do firm up, the cookies don't turn rock-hard even after freezing and still have "give" or softness to them when you bite into it.  They're easy to eat.

What can I say...this is a great little batch of cookies to make!  The cookies are tasty all on their own but make great little ice cream sandwiches.  Just pull them out of the freezer after dinner for a fun treat.

Chocolate cutout cookies for kids

I call these cutout cookies "chocolate sugar cookies" because to me, they are very much the chocolate version of the more common, plain vanilla, sugar cookies.  I have to tell you that taking out a rolling pin for cookies is not my favorite thing to do.  It involves more work and clean up but more importantly, the crisp texture of these types of cookies is not something I yearn for.  Don't get me wrong, I like them...but I don't crave them.  And something always seems to go a bit wrong in the process of making roll-out/cut-out cookies.  Either the dough keeps cracking or it's too sticky or I over or under-bake them a bit.  I've just learned to let go and realize that it doesn't need to be perfect and it won't be.  As long as it tastes good, it works.  So that being said, I do make roll out cookies on occasion - particularly during holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day.  It's also really cute for kids since they like the fun shapes you can make.  My son likes them and it's fun to pack a few as a school snack.

This was my attempt at making the cookies more interesting by sticking them in this dish.  Didn't work too well...forgive me because it was a very hot day and I was pressed for time.