Be the hit of your Christmas cookie exchange with these easy chocolate thumbprint cookies! Add crushed peppermint during the holidays for a festive touch.
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Let’s make cookies!
This is an especially fun post because it’s written as part of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap (organized by the wonderful Love & Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen).
The deal was this: each participating food blogger receives the names of three other food bloggers. You make some scrumptious cookies, mail a dozen of ’em off to each of your assigned recipients, and in return, you receive three packages of ahhhmazing homemade cookies from other people. It’s Secret Santa-style, so you don’t know who’s sending you cookies until they arrive on your doorstep. I sent these triple chocolate thumbprint cookies (!!!) to Erin at Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts, Victoria at Love Laugh Cook, and Dani of The Adventure Bite.
On my end, I received some amazing Salted Chocolate Pistachio Cookies from Annalise at Completely Delicious, a batch of Toffee Butter Cookies with Chocolate from the wonderful Melissa at Bless This Mess, and a scrumptious tin of Cranberry Shortbread Cookies from Julie of Julie Bakes!
Aside from being fun (and, um, delicious) the Cookie Swap is also a fundraiser: the Cookie Swap team has partnered with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, an amazing non-profit that provides research support to help fight pediatric cancer.
All proceeds from this Cookie Swap go to help them further their mission. So far, we’ve raised over $12,000!
Each participating blogger made a personal donation, and our incredible sponsors (that’d be OXO, Dixie Crystals, Brownie Brittle, and California Olive Ranch) matched those donations dollar for dollar.
AND NOW. Let me tell you about THESE cookies. These chocolate thumbprint cookies with chocolate, and then MORE chocolate, and then some peppermint, and then (duh) even MORE chocolate. Also, I rolled them in powdered sugar.
It’s Christmastime! Salads are for January.
I used semi-sweet chocolate for the centers of these cookies, and dark chocolate for the drizzle, so despite the insane amount of candy involved they aren’t overwhelmingly sweet. If you like to keep things on the sweeter side, you could substitute milk chocolate for the semi-sweet.
Also, I found this super-festive candy-cane-y string at Target when I was shopping for wrapping supplies for my cookie swap cookies. And then almost immediately after that, I read some article about “the most terrible annoying cliché things food bloggers do in their pictures,” which included tying things up with string.
Which obviously, in Jessie world, translated to “OH, I AM SO GOING TO TIE THESE CHOCOLATE THUMBPRINT COOKIES UP WITH STRING.”
You’re welcome.
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Description
Easy chocolate thumbprint cookies with crushed peppermint – perfect for your Christmas cookie exchange!
Ingredients
For the Cookie Dough:
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup dutch process cocoa
- 1/2 tsp. salt
To Assemble:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 large candy canes, crushed
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (or dark chocolate bar, broken into chunks)
Instructions
- In a stand mixer (or by hand in a large bowl) cream together butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.
- Add flour, cocoa, and salt to butter and mix until just combined.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to an hour.
- When dough has chilled, shape it into 1 inch balls. I like to use a small cookie scoop to make sure they’re all evenly sized.
- Roll each ball in powdered sugar until it’s lightly coated. Place 1 inch apart on a lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet (you can also use a Silpat or nonstick baking mat for this!)
- Lightly press down on each cookie with your thumb to make an indent.
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees F for 9 minutes.
- Remove cookies from oven and let cool on a wire rack until they’re cool to the touch, about 30 minutes. If the indents in the cookies puff up in the oven, gently push them back down with the back of a spoon.
- Melt semi sweet chocolate in a double boiler (or in the microwave, just be careful to stir frequently so chocolate doesn’t burn) until it’s smooth.
- Spoon a dollop of semi-sweet chocolate into the center of each cookie.
- Sprinkle a few pieces of crushed candy cane on top of the chocolate cookie centers while the chocolate is still warm. Let chocolate set for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Melt dark chocolate over a double boiler (or in the microwave) until smooth.
- Place melted dark chocolate in a pastry bag with a small tip. (You could also put it in a plastic bag and snip a small piece of the corner off).
- Pipe dark chocolate over cookies in a zig-zag motion. Let set until chocolate has cooled and serve!
- Store cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.
Notes
You can chill the dough overnight if you want to make these in advance, but it will get pretty hard in the fridge, so let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes or so until it is soft enough to shape easily.
Love this recipe? Try my famous Gingersnaps next!
Loosely adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
These are so pretty Jessie!!! So festive!
Thanks, Nicole!
Wow those look spectacular! Fantastic recipe, perfect for the holidays 🙂
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
I wish I was one of your recipients!! These look amazing!!
Thanks, Zainab!