Chocolate Peppermint Spritz

 

Spritz are a great cookie when you want a lot in a hurry, and they're dependable for being consistent, thanks to the cookie press.  Chocolate isn't really a part of my Christmas holiday, at least not as a main character, but peppermint brings a festive touch to these chocolate spritz cookies.  The recipe doesn't call for any peppermint in the cookie itself, but I wanted a little mint flavor there and not just in the topping, so I added a little extract to the dough.  While I made the full recipe of the cookie dough, I cut the drizzle quantity in half.  If you want cookies that are richer with chocolate flavor, by all means use the full quantity, but realize that your spritz pattern might get lost in the topping.  Normally I prefer cookies made with salted butter, but in this case the lack of salt might have been a better option.  They didn't taste salty, but they did taste buttery with more umami, which chocolate and peppermint lack in themselves.  Sometimes the absence of umami is okay.

Here's what I used to yield 50 cookies:

1³/₄ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1¹/₂ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract 

1 large egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

 

Drizzle (half original quantity)

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract

Crushed candy canes, for decorating

Preheat the oven to 325˚. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the extracts and egg until just combined. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder; reduce mixer speed to medium low and beat in the flour mixture until just combined. Fit a cookie press with a wreath disk. Press cookies 1 inch apart onto 2 unlined baking sheets. Bake one pan at a time until cookies are crisp and set around the edges, 18 to 22 minutes. Immediately remove the cookies to a rack using an offset spatula and let cool completely. 

Combine the chocolate, heavy cream and butter in a medium heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bowl touch the water). Stir until melted and smooth, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir in the peppermint extract; let cool 5 minutes. Transfer the icing to a resealable plastic bag, snip off a corner and drizzle over the cookies. Immediately sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Let set about 30 minutes.

Usually you need only a few test presses to figure out what the best press quantity is for the dough and design you're using, but for some reason I kept getting irregular quantities. Oddly, I had trouble getting these cookies to press out evenly:  some were too fat, some were too thin.  I don't know what the issue was.  It's easy enough to scrape the defective presses back into the bowl and do it again, but it was getting frustrating.  Otherwise, the cookies came together easily and baked nicely.  (I baked them about 17-18 minutes.) 

I was nervous about the topping, feeling I had to rush it and afraid the chocolate would harden before I got the candy to stick.  I needn't have worried; the ganache stayed soft for a long time.  There's plenty of time to apply both the melted chocolate and the candy.  Sprinkling the candy, however, is easier said than done -- I ended up with a lot on the counters and floor (which I can tell because I keep sticking to it.)  It tended to collect in the hole and had to be picked out.  Again, if I'd known I had plenty of time to fuss with it, it wouldn't have been so nerve wracking.

Conclusion:  These were good, though I'd prefer them more minty; most of the peppermint comes from the candy.  A bit fussy and messy to make, though, so not a recipe that can be knocked out in short order.

Recipe:  Chocolate Peppermint Spritz via Food Network Magazine, December 2019