Every year just after Thanksgiving, I start baking cookies by the dozens for our Christmas gift to friends and neighbors. Orange Cranberry Shortbread, Pistachio and Cherry Mexican Wedding Cakes, Chocolate Crinkles, Gingersnaps, and more.
When we finish baking and decorating the cookies, we box them up, then enlist our adult children to help us deliver the cookies throughout the neighborhood.
Traditionally, the baking starts with Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (pictured above). My youngest daughter says that she knows the Christmas season is here when she can smell them baking. I’m glad to accommodate.
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups flour
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer on high speed until the mixture is light. Add the egg, vanilla, peppermint, and salt. Beat until light and fluffy.
Add the cocoa and mix on low speed until combined. Then add the flour and mix until well blended.
Pack the dough in a cookie press. Fit the cookie press with your desired design plate. Press out the cookies on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat.
Bake until the cookies are firm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.