Healthy(ish) chocolate peppermint cookies! Credit where credit is due, this recipe is an adaptation of the “Dark Chocolate Walnut Cookies” in the American Heart Association Cookbook (if you don’t own it yet, you should.) That’s an absolutely fabulous, all-purpose fudgy chocolate cookie recipe.
I suppose walnuts are a much heart-healthier additive than Hershey’s Kisses, but it’s Christmas.
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Calories: 103kcal
Ingredients
- 2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 12 tablespoon room-temperature butter (1½ sticks)
- 4 eggs
- 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1⅓ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Decorations
- 80 Hershey Kisses Hugs (or Candy Cane Kisses)
- 1 cup sprinkles or sanding sugar
Instructions
- Use an electric mixer to beat together the brown sugar, the granulated white sugar and room-temperature butter until the butter is lightly and fluffy (about 2 to 3 minutes)
- Beat in the 4 eggs, one at a time
- Beat in the vanilla extract and peppermint extract
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
- Stir the flour mixture and the butter/sugar/egg mixture together until a dough forms.
- Divide the dough into 2 balls, and wrap each ball tightly with plastic wrap. Put the dough in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Unwrap the Hershey Kisses before you start, so they're ready as soon as the cookies come out of the oven.
- Fill a bowl with sprinkles or sanding sugar for coating the cookies.
- Roll up teaspoon-sized balls of dough and roll each ball of dough around in the sprinkles or sanding sugar to coat.
- Place the cookie dough balls on the baking sheet, with at least 2 inches of space between them (so they don't fuse together when they puff up in the oven.)
- Place the cookies in the oven and bake them for about 6 minutes. They'll look like they're only partly baked when they're ready.
- As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, push a Hershey's Kiss into the center. Let the cookies sit about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
If you omit the Hershey Kisses, this brings the calorie count down to 80 calories per cookie. If you omit the sprinkles or sanding sugar, this brings the calorie count to 71 calories per cookie.
