I feel like the Food Network doing “The 12 Days of Cookie Christmas” or something right now. All I want is cookies, peppermint bark, fudge, handfuls of popcorn from those tri-flavor bins… the list goes on and on. Usually I can’t live without fresh produce but right now the only fruit or veg I want is dried and in trail mix. My sweet tooth has been deprived for the past year as I’ve been watching what I eat (despite what you see here I’m actually a super healthy eater 90% of the time!), and now it has woken from its slumber with a vengeance. And it wants cookies. Bad.

I made a sort-of version of these cookies 2 years ago when I was a senior in college. Originally they had peppermint buttercream sandwiched between them with bits of candy cane in the filling, but everyone seemed to agree it was, well, too much. Yes, I found a dessert even I found too rich and sweet to enjoy.  But I had a mad hankering for chocolate-peppermint-cookie goodness, so I decided to just take the great chocolate cookie recipe and toss the crushed candy canes right into the dough instead of putting it in between. And it worked perfectly!

The cookies are light and crisp, yet rich and satisfying since I used hunks of bittersweet chocolate instead of chips, and the candy cane flavor is mild and almost aromatic, but not overpowering since I didn’t use any extract (blech, not a fan anyway). Now excuse me whilst I go feed my sweet tooth some more Dove Peppermint Bark Promises and a few more of these delicious delights.

Chocolate Candy Cane Wafers

Makes 5 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Ghiradelli)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 12 ounces good bittersweet chocolate (I use 60%), chopped into small bits
• About 12 candy canes, crushed, but not to powder (pulsing them in a food processor is a great way to do it so they’re even), with a few tablespoons set aside to top the cookies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F with rack in bottom third of oven. Line up to 6 baking sheets with parchment paper (depending on how many you have).
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth. Add the brown and white sugars and beat for another 2 minutes or so, until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is incorporated.
4. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate hunks and candy cane bits by hand.
5. Drop the dough in tablespoon-sized balls onto baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart (they will spread quite a bit) and sprinkle a few candy cane bits on top. Bake for about 10 minutes until  the edges are very crisp and the centers have spread out, but are still soft. Let cool on the sheet for a couple minutes before removing with a turner and letting cool completely on wire racks.

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