Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Peppermint Patty and the Food Blogger Cookie Swap!


This fall I signed up for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap organized by the lovely Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. Clearly I wasn't thinking - I knew I would be very pregnant, busy with work, and trying to fit in some Christmas crafting. I mostly forgot about it (a benefit of pregnancy brain) until the my first dozen cookies arrived (overnight, certified in fact!) from Sheri at My Judy the Foodie one Saturday morning.





Sheri sent Berger Cookies, which are apparently a Baltimore specialty. Think of a soft vanilla cake with a seriously thick layer of fudge on top - yup - they were delicious!

I didn't even have time to panic about being totally unprepared! Saturdays are made for baking, filling, and packing cookies. Luckily, there's post office in our area that is open until 9 p.m. everyday! Everything shipped just before the deadline. The thing about making a cookie recipe in a time crunch is you don't have time to fuss. I knew I needed a recipe that I could pull off quickly, that was festive, and would ship well. And let's be real, you're kind of obsessing over  these cookies too, right?


I didn't want to go the homemade Oreo route because there was no time to chill, roll and then bake a large number of cookies. Jenni's Chocolate Snap recipe was my saving grace. My only regret is that I didn't come up with a clever name for the cookies before I sent them away! Of course as soon as I left the post office, I thought of my favorite Christmas movie, Charlie Brown Christmas and realized that my candy cane creme cookies were actually Peppermint Patties!


My cookies went off to Maggie at Kitch-Coo, Meagan at Scarletta Bakes, and Melissa at NumNoms. Over the next week, I enjoyed e-mailing, tweeting and virtually meeting lots of new to me food-bloggers through the swap. Another Meagan of A Zesty Bite  sent "Naughty Cookies", which with their candy cane, chocolate, and Oreo pieces were really were actually quite nice. Tabitha over at Life A La Mode sent awesome citrus shortbread cookies and her packaging was especially cute - though I ate them so fast I didn't get a picture.  Rumor has it there's another swap in the works for next year, sign up early so you can forget about it and skip the panic.


Peppermint Patties

yield: 80 2 inch sandwich cookies

For the chocolate cookie:

1 cup  all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon  cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon  baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Heat the oven to 350ºF.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a small mixing bowl.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips in a the microwave using 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium for 1 minute until smooth. Pour in the melted chocolate and beat for 1 more minute.

Add the flour mixture, and pulse until the flour is just incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Return  to medium-high speed and beat for 30 seconds.

Using a tablespoon or a small disher, scoop the dough into parchment lined half sheet pans. Bake for 9 minutes, then remove sheets from the oven and let cool on the tray for two minutes. Transfer the cookies to the rack and cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Cool completely before filling.

For the candy cane creme:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 pound powdered sugar

1 cup crushed candy canes, about 12 whole candy canes

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Beat the butter until smooth in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Add the powdered sugar in half cup intervals, beating on medium speed, and scraping the sides of the bowl between additions. Add the candy canes, vanilla and salt and stir to combine.

Sandwich a tablespoon of filling between two chocolate wafers and enjoy!

8 comments:

  1. WOW--these look and sound awesome! I can't wait to give them a try!

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  2. Meghan, I can vouch for the amazingness of these cookies! Wowsers. They were perfectly delicious and I feel so lucky to have received these scrumptious delights! I am going to have to put these on my baking list for next holiday season since I probably won't be lucky enough to get them two years in a row. Happy New Year!

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