Meghan’s Peppermint-Fudge Thumbprint Cookies

Meghan-Digital Marketing Coordinator:

Baking has been one of my all-time favourite Christmas activities for as long as I can remember. Some of my fondest Christmas memories involve decorating cookies in oven-warmed kitchens and arguing with my siblings about whose turn it was to eat the dough off the mixing spoon. While my family has a few passed-down, tried-and-true recipes that we make every year, we also love discovering new recipes to share with one another.

This year, I decided to try out a new one that sounded irresistible: Peppermint Fudge Thumbprint Cookies. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out; the cookies themselves have a lighter chocolate flavour that offsets the richness of the ganache, and the peppermint adds a festive little kick (though it’s easily left off for those who aren’t a fan of the chocolate-mint combo — I made a few without and added some snowflake sugar sprinkles to jazz them up a little). All in all, this was a great recipe, and definitely meets my family’s make-again criteria!

Total Time To Make: 1 Hour 15 Min. | Servings: 42

Ingredients

Cookies

¾ Cup sugar
¾ Cup butter or margarine, softened
½ Tsp vanilla
1 Egg
1 ¾ Cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsps unsweetened baking cocoa
¼ Tsp salt
Small handful of crushed hard peppermint candies for topping

Fudge Filling

¼ Cup whipping cream
1 Cup milk chocolate chips

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat sugar, butter, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon, until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa and salt until dough forms.
2. Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into 1-inch balls. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls about 2 inches apart. Press thumb into center of each cookie, just enough to indent it, but not all the way to the cookie sheet.
3. Bake 7 to 11 minutes or until edges are firm. If necessary, quickly remake indentations with end of wooden spoon. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely for approximately 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until steaming. Remove from heat; mix in chocolate chips until melted. Cool for approximately 10 minutes or until thickened.
5. Spoon a rounded 1/2 teaspoon filling into each cookie’s indentation. Top with crushed peppermint candies if desired.

If you want to win an awesome gift basket to pair with this dessert, visit our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/sayvee) or Instagram (@sayveeonline) for our Christmas Giveaway posts. You could win a variety of local brews, chocolate, and even our CEO’s closely guarded eggnog recipe (please don’t tell him, we already maxed out the company credit card purchasing heist supplies). All you have to do is tag two other friends in the comments of either post. Good luck!