peppermint chocolate blossoms
Cute little Friday cookies that look like little edible chocolate flowers.
The cookie craziness continues with Peppermint Chocolate Blossoms. The easiest dudes that never fail to stun on a dessert platter, perfect for lowkey weekend baking and nibbling. I couldn’t pass up a blossom cookie this year because I always thought they’d looked adorable and were the ideal size for an indulgence, especially after a bevy of other goodies during Christmas dinner.
I’m finishing off all my cookie box recipes this week and cannot wait to share the finished product with ya’ll. There’ll be tips and advice for building your box, shipment cues to help ensure your gift gets to the recipient unscathed, and of course the shit you’re all there for: COOKIES. Excitement.
This weekend is all about getting festive and having fun, starting with more cookie houses with J, decorating our fat and beautiful balsam fir, and drinking plenty of Buttered Rum Hot Chocolate – which has been a HUGE hit amongst you guys, so if you haven’t tried it, highly recommend you do. I’d say it tastes swell with a couple of these glittery treats, too. Double whammy of awesome.
Lil Blossom
No blood, sweat, or tears with this cookie recipe. Promise.
First off, get your hands on some candy cane Hersheys Kisses. They serve as the center of the petal-like cookies. Most grocery stores carry them so you shouldn’t have much issue finding a bag.
Once you’ve bought those and acquire all your other needed crap, get going on the cookies! The ingredients are more or less standard cookie mainstays: butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla, with a wink of peppermint extract, then flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. The dough will be very cohesive but shouldn’t be dry or crumbly.
Form the dough into balls and dip into sugar to coat. Place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet – I keep about 1 1/2 inches of space or so in between, these don’t spread a lot so don’t need too much wiggle room.
Watch Em Bloom
Bake until the cookies are puffy, about 8 minutes. I did not need a lick more time than that 8 minutes in my trials, but if your oven is wonky, you might need 9.
Once you take the trays out, press a kiss (not one with your lips, that’s called cross-contamination, kids) in the center of the cookies. They will deflate and crackle, which is expected; they’ll also melt a little if you jostle the pan, so keep that in mind. Cool the cookies a bit before you dive in, or cool completely and store for later.
A word on storage: I never stack my blossom cookies because the candies are fragile after sitting in a warm bed for a time and will collapse and melt if placed atop one another. Instead, find a large enough container to store them in non-overlapping rows. You can freeze them here as well to resolidify the kisses so shipping or transporting your cookie box is seamless and you have no risk of droopy flowers.
Easy peasy, no one will complain about a handful in their edible gift box. I sure wouldn’t!
Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Minty fresh:
Christmas Tree Peppermint Bark Pop Tarts
Peppermint Stick White Russian
Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
peppermint chocolate blossoms
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 bag candy cane Hersheys Kisses, unwrapped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, 1/2 cup of sugar sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the egg until fully incorporated, then the vanilla and peppermint extracts. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined.
- Scoop scant 1 tablespoon sized balls of dough and roll between your palms. Roll in the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and set on the baking sheet – you can place them fairly close together as they don't spread much. Bake for 8-9 minutes until puffed. Remove from the oven and immediately press a kiss in the middle – they will crackle, this is normal! Cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then move to a wire rack to continue cooling. Serve immediately or store on one layer in the fridge for up to a week.
