12 Days of Christmas Cookies: #6 Peppermint-Bark Stuffed Cookies

(This recipe is a repost from The List.)

Boy, oh boy. It's like I blinked, and it's Christmas week. It's about time I posted a new seasonal cookie here! And so here it is: an inside-out (or is that outside-in?), stuffed version of my Yuletide (A.K.A. Peppermint Bark) Cookies.

This recipe uses my basic oatmeal sugar cookie base--but with a twist. I cut the white sugar to 1/2 a cup and added 1/2 a cup of light brown sugar because I wanted a chewy exterior to contrast with the crunchy bits of candy cane in the interior.

An all-white sugar version is great, especially if you want a crispy cookie. (I know because I've made that version before a bunch of times.) But because this recipe is for a stuffed cookie, I wanted a soft, pliable dough that would hold up to scoping, stuffing, rolling, and baking and still come out of the oven chewy. I chose right!

The semisweet chocolate chips are just right for the filling. They're rich and chocolaty and sweet but not too sweet--they compliment, not overpower, the crushed candy canes.

When I put the first tray in the oven, I had my fingers crossed because I was a little afraid that the candy cane bits would melt and solidify and turn into a tooth-shatteringly hard chunk o' peppermint flavored rock candy. You know I breathed a sigh of relief when these guys came out just right.

Here's a tip, though: you don't won't big pieces of candy cane here. I put my candy canes in a plastic sandwich bag and used a pan to crush them down into mostly powder. If you have any pieces that are bigger than a pencil's eraser, keep smooshing.

The finished cookies come out perfectly round, perfectly plump. Kinda like Santa.

Makes 2 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Peppermint Bark-stuffed Cookies.)

Filling	1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 2 tablespoons milk 8 candy canes
Creamables	1 stick butter 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar
Wet Ingredients	1 egg 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 teaspoon milk
Dry Ingredients	1 1/4 cups finely ground oatmeal 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt

 

 

1. Melt the chocolate chips and milk over a double boiler or in the microwave. Add the crushed candy canes and mix. Let the mixture cool and solidify in the fridge until step 7.
2. Preheat oven to 350º.
3. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
5. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
6. Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
7. Remove the filling mixture from the fridge and stuff each dough ball with 1 heaping teaspoon of the mixture. Put the stuffed dough balls in the fridge for 5 minutes to firm up.
8. Place chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
9. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.