Good Eating Monday: Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles

Today's Good Eating recipe is a classic holiday cookie, called Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles or "Black & Whites."

If you don't prefer peppermint, it can be left out. I use dried Chocolate Peppermint herb in mine, which gives a much lighter, barely noticeable Peppermint touch.

With this batch I was also trying to figure out how to get the best patchy-whiteness on them so they look pretty--which is a trick, since the dough absorbs the Confectioners sugar very quickly.

I find most photos of Chocolate Crinkles on Pinterest unrealistic. If it looks too good to be true, it's probably not. Sometimes people pin professional food photographer photos of Choc. Crinkles they've found on the web that clearly had to be painted with a combo of sugar & white paint to be that perfectly white all over.

My photo, shown here below, is how you should realistically expect most Crinkle type cookies to actually look--not perfectly patched in white, by any means. 

I decided the secret to getting the best white patching is just working really, really fast in small quantities!

My Crinkles baked by me, Dec/2015

Scoop up the ball of dough, roll it very briefly in your hands, coat in with powdered sugar in a bowl, then onto a baking sheet. Not more then 10 or 12 balls.
 If any of the first balls seem to have their powder disappearing, give them a quick roll in sugar again, then rush the whole sheet into the oven!
The cookie dough needs chill 4 hours to over-night prior to baking, so plan accordingly!

Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles
Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

 2 cups white sugar

 2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 eggs 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract  (or 1/4 cup dried mint)

1/2 cup Confectioners sugar for rolling (use more as needed)

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for for least 4 hours or more.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or, if not using parchment paper, coat the cookie sheets with cooking spray. Place confectioner sugar into a small bowl. Working quickly, roll dough into into one-inch size balls one at a time, rolling them briefly in your hands, then finish by rolling in the Confectioners Sugar until thickly coated. Place on prepared cookie sheet, and quickly work on next ball, repeating until you have 10 or 12 ready to bake, then put them in the oven and bake bake 10 to 12 minutes. (You can pat a little Confectioners sugar onto your palms to help reduce sticking.) 

Return  remaining cookie dough frig in-between, so it stays nice and cold until all cookies are baked. Once a sheet of cookies is done, let them cool 1 minute on the baking sheet before transferring to wire racks. Hint: If your cookies seem more black then white anyway, just sprinkle a pinch of Confectioners sugar on top of any you think need a little extra right after removing from oven.  Yields approx. 4 dozen.

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I actually created a holiday with one year's cookies & starlight mints! It includes the recipe inside. Actually quite a beautiful card!

 Eat up, me hearties, yo-ho!