Chocolate Peppermint Surprises

Looking for a perfect Christmas cookie? Look no further, these fudgy, rich chocolate peppermint surprises hide a real treat inside, a melted peppermint patty. Use a good quality chocolate to make these cookies and to make exactly 40 cookies measure level tablespoons of dough.

Chocolate Peppermint Surprises

Ingredients:

¾ cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. Salt
16oz. Bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao), chopped
¼ cup butter
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Canola oil
30-40 small peppermint patties, such as York, unwrapped and chilled

Directions:

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Put the chocolate and butter in a medium bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate melts and is smooth. Remove bowl from pan and let cool.

Using a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat eggs on medium speed until foamy. With the motor running gradually add the sugar, continue mixing until the mixture is light and tripled in volume, about 7 minutes. Add the cooled chocolate and vanilla and beat until blended. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing until smooth. The batter will be thin, ore like cake batter. Chill, covered until dough is firm enough to scoop, at least four hours or overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a lightly oiled 1 Tbsp. measuring spoon scoop a half-dozen portions of dough onto a work surface. Chill remaining dough. Using lightly oiled fingers and the palm of your hand, roll 1 portion into a ball, then flatten into a disk about 2 inches wide. Repeat to make a second disk. Set peppermint patty on one disk and tip with the second, press edges to seal. Repeat to make ore cookies, spacing them abut 1 ½ inches on the baking sheet. Bake 1 sheet of cookies at a time until the edges and crackled in the center, about 12 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then loosen from parchment and transfer to a wire rack to tool. Next time to have a cookies swap to attend make these delicious chocolate peppermint surprises.

Dough can be made ahead, up to one day and chilled airtight or up to one month frozen. Cookies may be frozen up to one month.