Every year around mid to late November little holiday signifiers start popping up — peppermint mochas start appearing on café menus, Christmas music start making its way into stores at the mall, and the iconic tins of peppermint bark make their annual appearance at my local Williams Sonoma store. William Sonoma’s peppermint bark is at the top of that list for me. When I walk into the Vancouver location of Williams Sonoma and see the pyramid of red and white tins, my heart sings. It is full on singing — not just a subtle little melody, but a complete orchestra. That’s when I know that the holidays are here.
I’ve always enjoyed the peppermint bark as is but never have I used it as part of my holiday baking. I don’t know why I haven’t incorporated into my holiday cookies because it seems like a natural fit. When Williams Sonoma Canada asked if I wanted to make a cookie inspired by their iconic bark, I immediately said yes (I said a polite yes in my email exchange with them but in my head, there were 10 exclamation marks following a YES in all caps). In addition to using the peppermint bark for my holiday cookies, I also used the tin as the cookie box, making it so perfect to gift to family and friends.
I also picked out a few things from their holiday shop, including these cute Williams Sonoma Peanuts™ Holiday Impression Cookie Cutters set (since all of you are obsessed with my last set of Peanuts cookie stamps) as well as the PEANUTS™ Holiday Platter.
(PS. Williams Sonoma Canada’s shipping cut-off to receive items in time for Christmas Day is December 9th at 11PM EST!)
Peppermint Bark Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
Chocolate Cookie
- 170 g (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 165 g (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) brown sugar
- 50 g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg , room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 180 g (1 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
- 50 g (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
Dark Chocolate Ganache
- 200 g (1 cup) dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Garnish
- Coarse sanding sugar
- Peppermint bark
Instructions
Chocolate Cookie
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
- Add dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture and mix on low speed until no dry streaks remain, about 1 – 2 minutes.
- Using a tablespoon, portion out dough balls. Each dough ball should have 1.5 – 2 tablespoons of dough. Roll dough ball between the palms of your hands until smooth and place on a lined baking sheet. If the dough is too sticky at this point, refrigerate dough balls for 15 minutes.
- Roll each dough ball in coarse sanding sugar and place on lined baking sheet, leaving 2-inches between each ball.
- Using a teaspoon, press spoon into the top of each dough ball to create an indent.
- Transfer the baking sheet to freezer and let dough chill for 10 minutes.
- ake cookies for 10 – 12 minutes, until the edges are set but centres are still tender. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 20 minutes before transferring to as wire rack to cool completely.
Dark Chocolate Ganache
- While the cookies are cooling, make the dark chocolate ganache filling.
- Place chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl.
- Heat up cream in a small pot until it reaches a light simmer. Pour cream over the chopped chocolate. Allow the chocolate mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Add salt and whisk until the chocolate has fully melted.
- Transfer ganache to a piping bag.
Assembly
- Fill cookies with ganache and garnish with a piece of peppermint bark.
![day two: sparkly matcha neapolitan shortbread cookies ✨
the instructions might seem confusing, but if you watch the video to see how the different flavour layers are stacked, it will make much more sense! these slice and bake cookies freeze extremely well so you can make the dough now and bake them off when you want to gift them. (makes 40-44)
vanilla dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
matcha dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tsp culinary matcha powder
1/4 tsp salt
strawberry dough
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g 6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp freeze-dried strawberry powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg white
coarse sanding sugar
for the vanilla dough, combine butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. mix until smooth. add vanilla. add flour and salt and mix until no dry streaks remain. do the same for the matcha and strawberry doughs in separate bowls
place one portion of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll into a 5 x 9-inch rectangle that is about 1/4-inch thick. slide rolled out dough onto a baking sheet and freeze for 10 min until firm. repeat this step with the other portions of dough
remove the top piece of parchment from each slab and stack the strawberry, vanilla, and matcha dough layers. cut the slab down the middle the long way to form two 2.5 x 9-inch rectangles. with one half, carefully swap the order of the layers (example: if the first half of the dough is stacked svm, swap the second half so it’s msv. this will ensure that same flavour squares don’t stack on each other). stack the halves. press the layers gently to adhere them. return the stacked dough to the freezer for another 10min
[recipe cont’d in comments]
#christmasbaking #christmascookies #holidaybaking #holidaycookies #cookiedecorating](https://constellationinspiration.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
Shelby says
Hi! Love these, but my cookies spread quite a bit in the oven. Do I need to chill them longer than 10 mins in the freezer? Or add more flour? Thank you! Love everything you do!