STEPHANIE'S SLICE OF LIFE

When I saw an interview with Drake Maye and he said his wife Ann’s Peppermint Chocolate Chip cookies were his favorite so far from her “Bakemas”, I looked up her recipe. I initially thought I would use my favorite Chocolate Chip cookie recipe and tweak it a little with crushed candy canes, but after watching her video she had me at cream cheese. If there’s cream cheese in a cookie recipe, you know it is going to be good. These cookies are insanely good! Wow!

I decided to make them right after watching the video, and surprisingly had most of the ingredients. Her recipe calls for white chocolate chips, which I did not have so I added an extra 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips. The next time I make them I will try with dark and white chips. I also used dark chocolate chips instead of chunks.

I had candy canes in the house, but I typically use Starlight Peppermint candies instead of candy canes in recipes because they are easier to unwrap. You can use either, whichever you prefer.

The recipe didn’t state exactly how much of the candy canes or chips to use, so I used what I typically would.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened

4 oz. of block cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cream of tarter

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup of candy canes or Starlight Peppermint candies, crushed

1 cup of dark chocolate chips or chunks

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

coarse sea salt, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crush the candy canes in a plastic bag with either a wooden mallet, or a rolling pin. Set aside. Save any leftovers so you can use them in Peppermint Bark, you can find my recipe at the end of this blog.

In a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and brown sugar.

Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix well.

In a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.

Blend in half of the dry mixture until combined, then add the second half and combine.

Add in the chips and crushed candy canes, combine well. You can either do this by hand, or in the stand mixer for about 15 – 20 seconds.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. I used a cookie scoop. Sprinkle the tops with coarse seal salt if you’d like.

Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes on the cooking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Eat, repeat. Enjoy!

Peppermint Marble Bark