Ma's Peppermint Cocoa Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

These cookies are an original concoction put together by my mother and I this holiday season. I was never a big fan of peppermint and chocolate together until Cass brought over these brownies (a variation of Swistle's Brownies) and I died. Dead from yummy goodness. I kind of forgot about my love of this combination until Starbucks started with their Peppermint Mocha Twists. I died again. So I began my hunt for anything in this combination and craved it like I was pregnant again. Ice cream, candy, anything.

So while we were doing our yearly tradition of cookie baking, we came up with this recipe and Oh. My. Dog. It's kind of like a chewy thin mint.

So if you have these ingredients or are planning a trip to the store, pick up the stuff and make them for Christmas. Bring them to a friends' house. You WILL NOT be sorry.

What you need:



1 sticks of butter
3/4 c. white sugar
2/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 tsp. peppermint extract
3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa poweder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 1/4 c. flour
1 pkg (12 oz) white chocolate chips.

What you do:

-Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl. Set aside.
-In a mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy
-Add in extracts and eggs.
-Gradually add in dry mixture.
-Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until done.

Some things of note:
-Personally, I always take out my cookies a minute or two before they are "done" and let them sit on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes before putting them on a cooling rack. This lets them finish cooking out of the oven so you get that gooey middle.
-Make sure you don't use more than the 1 tsp of peppermint. It is STRONG and any more than that and it overpowers the flavor. If you want more mint, try using crushed candy cane pieces sprinkled on top.
-You can most definitely substitute the white chips for regular chocolate chips or even the swirled ones. You can use none at all. Get creative!

Enjoy!