Chocolate-Mint Cutout Cookies
Apparently, in 2023, my nostalgia has manifest in cravings for chocolate-peppermint, which I fully attribute to how it tickles my Midwest memories of Marshall Field’s and Frango mints. You won’t find crushed-candy-cane barks anywhere among this holiday’s goodies because, confession, I’ve never liked hard candy that sticks in my teeth. But I’ll admit that, this year, I was almost tempted.
With peppermint extract in both the dough and the icing, these cut cookies have that rather perfect ‘thin mints’ flavor. Yum! This minimal decoration was at the request of sugar-conscious mamas, though the icy winter colors looked so lovely on the dark backdrop no one seemed to miss having more.
Enjoy!
These are some of the items I find especially helpful for this bake. (These are affiliate links.)
King Arthur Bensdorp Cocoa Powder
King Arthur Double Dark Cocoa
Cook’s Pure Peppermint Extract
AmeriColor Bright White Gel Food Coloring
Chocolate-Mint Cutout Cookies
makes 26 cookies approximate 2+3/4”
INGREDIENTS
2 + 1/4 cups good all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Bensdorp cocoa powder
2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup shortening
1 + 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla
INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium-large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients thoroughly and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy.
Add the egg and extracts and mix until well incorporated.
Add the flour mixture and mix on low/medium-low until incorporated, stopping to scrape the bowl as needed.
Roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thick between sheets of parchment paper. Slide the parchment onto a cookie sheet. Use a cookie cutter to cut desired shape(s) close together. Remove the bits of dough from between the shapes, and add it to the remaining dough. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer. Repeat with remaining dough.
Freeze the sheets of cookies for 1 hour. (I place small risers in the corners of the sheet in order to stack another on top without squishing the cookies.)
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Remove one cookie sheet at a time from the freezer, remove the top layer of parchment and space the frozen cookies about 2 inches apart. (Put the extras back into the freezer until you’re ready for the next batch.)
Bake for 10-11 minutes. (You want to remove them as soon as the tops of the cookies no longer look moist in the center.)
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool and set on the pan for a couple of minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Repeat steps 8-10 until all cookies have been baked.
Let cookies cool for at least 1 hour or overnight before decorating.
For the icing, I made a half batch of my recipe for Royal Icing with peppermint extract — (leaving it the thickness for piping details) adding several drops of bright white food coloring to make the white crisp and give the pale green and blue a good pop!
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