Thursday, December 3, 2009

12 Days of Cookies – a bon appétit cookie extravaganza! Chocolate Peppermint Stars

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This wonderful event, in it’s second year, is the brain child of Andrea of Andrea's Recipes, but this year is being organized and ran by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench.

How I got asked to be involved with this incredible group is beyond me but all the thanks goes to Kelly of Sass & Veracity and after last year I sure earned my way in the hard way! There are 10 of us that have decided to do The 12 Days of Cookies – A bon appétit cookie extravaganza. We will be choosing, baking, tasting, blogging and sharing with you a cookie a day for the first 12 days of December.
These cookies are coming from bon appetit's Holiday Cookie-a-Day Slideshow.

These are my partners in crime. We will all be choosing different cookies and surprising each other. How fun is that???? Be sure to check out their selections for the day!

Andrea of Andrea's Recipes
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dogs
RJ of Flamingo Musings
Sandy of At the Baker's Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

CHocolate stars

So, I guess you can tell that they don’t look very star like right?  These cookies and I were doomed right from the start.  Still not sure where I went wrong.  I followed the recipe to a tee.  The only thing I can think of is that it was just too stinky hot in here and the recipe is kinda weird.  No egg, no baking soda or baking powder.  Hmmm…

Here is my star attempt…

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Not very star like right?  I decided that I was not gong to waste any more chocolate on these cookies so I just put the candy cane crumbles on them before I baked them.  I realized after that wasn’t such a good idea so on the drop ones I made I just pressed it into it when it was baked.

Chocolate Peppermint Stars
Servings: Makes about 32 cookies. 

Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup (about 3 1/2 ounces) finely crushed red-and-white-striped hard peppermint candies
Preparation
  • Sift flour, cocoa, and salt into medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add dry ingredients; beat until dough holds together. Divide dough in half. Shape each piece into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm enough to roll, at least 45 minutes and up to 1 day.

  • Set rack in center of oven and preheat to 300°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 3-inch star-shaped cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer to sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps into ball. Wrap; chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

  • Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until tops feel firm to touch, about 25 minutes. Cool on sheets 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool completely. Repeat rolling, cutting, and baking until all dough is used. DO AHEAD Can be made ahead. Store airtight at room temperature up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.

  • Stir chocolate in small metal bowl set over saucepan of barely simmering water until smooth. Using small spoon, drizzle chocolate over cookies in zigzag lines. Sprinkle with crushed candies. Drizzle remaining chocolate over. Let stand until chocolate is set, at least 1 hour. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Store cookies between sheets of waxed paper in airtight container at room temperature.

CHocolate stars 2

Would I make these again?  No way!  As RJ of Flamingo Musings pointed out they could be saved by adding an egg, more flour, change to regular sugar and add baking powder...Hehehe!

15 comments:

Michelle said...

I can tell if you add 1 cup of butter that these cookies are not going to hold any kind of shape during baking. I hate to do it but with some cookies it's best to use a good quality margarine or butter/margarine.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

After one day of baking cookies I am ready to throw in the towel...at least until next week...don't know how you ladies do it:D These are another excelelnt addition to the holiday tray.

Dharm said...

What a fun event! These choc mint cookies would delight my son!

RJ Flamingo said...

Yes, and if you did all that, it would be a totally different cookie altogether! :-) You sure lived up to your name with this one - No Fear! :-)

Heather said...

Stars or not - they still look extra yummy to me... but yeah I am sorry your title is misleading... HA HA HA ;-)

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

a pretty idea...

But I still love yesterdays pecan sandwich cookies best!

Di said...

I'm sorry these ones didn't work out the way you wanted. They still look yummy, though! =)

Rosy said...

They are very festive the way they are! Great save.

Bob said...

It's always hard when recipes defy you. You can always send them to me, I'll eat 'em. :D

Elle said...

They still look delicious, though! But again, it reminds me of last year when you guys did this--these recipe should be tested better before they're published. Bet they still taste good, though!

Pam said...

I luv peppermint...very nice!

Enjoy!

Jen said...

Darn, I have some Ming Tsai "Double Chocolate Ginger Shortbreads" baking right now and I don't think they're winners, either, so I was really hoping that these would ROCK as my cookie collection this year is woefully missing chocolate.

glamah16 said...

No eggs or baking powder? Weird. But it looks like you saved a disaster. Bet you it was the climate.

Thistlemoon said...

Yes it does sound like a strange recipe...but at least you tried it!

kellypea said...

Hmmm...reminds me of a few recipes I ran into last year ; ) E for effort on this one. I have a "variation" of it on my list because I'm not a lover of peppermint if you can believe that. Good for you for keeping up with this. My tongue's draggin' already!