I have to say that chocolate and peppermint are my two most favorite flavor combinations.  I'm sad that candy cane season is over.  I say why wait for Christmas time to have these delcious dark chocolate peppermint cookies!!  I might have to make some this week!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips, divided

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

2 large eggs

4 candy canes or 16 red-and-white- striped hard peppermint candies, coarsely crushed

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Stir 2 cups chocolate chips in medium metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Measure 2/3 cup melted chocolate; transfer to small metal bowl and reserve for drizzling.  Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy. Add sugar and both extracts; beat until smooth. Add eggs; beat to blend. Beat in melted chocolate from medium bowl. Add dry ingredients; beat just to blend. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Measure 1 level tablespoonful dough; roll dough between palms to form ball. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing cookies 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until cracked all over and tester inserted into center comes out with large moist crumbs attached, 8 to 9 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment paper to racks to cool completely.  Rewarm reserved 2/3 cup chocolate over small saucepan of simmering water. Using fork, drizzle chocolate over cookies. Sprinkle crushed candy canes over, arranging some pieces with red parts showing. Chill just until chocolate sets, about 20 minutes.

*Can be made 3 weeks ahead. Store airtight in freezer. Bring to room temperature before serving.

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I was excited when this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge was for Fudge!!! We haven't made fudge in a while and I really wanted to find a good recipe for White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge and I found a great one by Mindika's Moments.  I liked this one because it had an unexpected ingredient - cream cheese!  I haven't ever used cream cheese in any fudge recipe before so I was so curious how it would turn out.  Well this is a fantastic recipe.  It's very easy to put together and it's really delicious.  We tweaked the recipe a little bit to suit the ingredients we had on hand, mostly we changed the quantities of ingredients but kept the recipe as similar as possible. 

Ingredients:

1 cup  cream cheese

3 cups powdered sugar

2 cups white chocolate chips

1 1/4 teaspoons peppermint extract

1 cup candy canes, crushed

Preparation:

Line an 8x8 square pan with wax paper and set aside.  With a hand mixer beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar (1 cup at a time) and peppermint extract until smooth.   Melt white chocolate chips in a double boiler or microwave in 30 second increments until melted and smooth.  Add white chocolate to cream cheese mixture, combine with a wooden spoon.  Next add in crushed candy canes, reserving about 2 tablespoons to sprinkle on top).  Stir candy canes into fudge mixture until combined well.  Pour fudge into prepared square pan and smooth with a knife.  Sprinkle the reserved crushed candy canes on top.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and then slice and serve!!

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