Peppermint Brownie Cookies

Ingredients

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

42 grams unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed

½ cup unsalted butter

2 large eggs, at room temperature

150 grams granulated sugar

107 grams dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)

1 ½ teaspoons peppermint extract

90 grams all-purpose flour

41 grams crushed peppermint candy

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put chocolate and ¼ cup/21 grams cocoa powder in a small heatproof bowl or glass measuring cup. Melt butter in a skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat until bubbly but not browned, and pour over the chocolate. Without stirring, let the mixture sit so the residual heat can melt the chocolate thoroughly while you whip the eggs and sugar.

Put the eggs, both sugars and the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-high speed until the mixture is pillowy and the sugars have begun to dissolve, 6 to 8 minutes.

Stir the chocolate mixture until glossy and smooth. If any solid pieces remain, you can microwave the mixture in 10-second bursts until everything is melted.

With the mixer on low speed, add the peppermint extract and then the chocolate mixture. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula, then add the flour and remaining ¼ cup/21 grams cocoa, and mix on low until a few streaks of flour and cocoa remain. Use the spatula to finish folding in the dry ingredients to avoid overmixing. The dough will be looser than traditional cookie dough but not as thin as brownie batter.

Use a ¼-cup cookie scoop or measuring cup to scoop 12 (2-ounce) balls of batter onto the prepared sheets and bake. After 10 minutes, take the sheets out of the oven and bang them once on the counter to create a craggy surface and dense texture. Sprinkle a bit of crushed peppermint candy in the center of each cookie and return to the oven for another 2 minutes.

Let cool completely on the baking sheets. The cookies will keep for 4 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

Note from 2022: Maybe the best cookie recipe I've ever made. I wasn't able to find peppermint extract, so I used some almond and vanilla extract instead (peppermint definitely would've been better though). I also got 24 cookies out of the dough, and I used a heaping tablespoon to parcel them out. I think they only needed 90 seconds to get the peppermint to adhere; 2 minutes and it was melting into one solid mass.