Fudgy Chocolate Peppermint Christmas Cookies

Christmas eve is 5 days away and the stress of getting everything ready for it is intense! Luckily I got most of my shopping done, just a few things left. I have to venture to IKEA tomorrow and I'm sure that's going to be madness. If only IKEA had a bar I could spend all day there with no problem! ;) I wanted to make one more batch of Christmas cookies before my banana bread baking bonanza began. I will be baking about 5 loaves of my banana bread for everyone at my office so my house is going to be nutty monkey heaven! My fudgy cookies turned out big and soft, the perfect cookie to leave out for Santa on Christmas eve :) Click "read more" to see the recipe and more pictures!

I once again used ghirardelli chocolate bars to make this recipe... and wow, it makes for such a rich cookie! This is definitely for the chocolate lovers in your family.  

They almost have a brownie consistency they are so soft! To keep them this soft make sure to seal them in an airtight container after baking. If you find that they begin to get a little too hard for your liking, stick a piece of bread, any bread, in the container with the cookies. Its a secret trick to make cookies soft again! Now lets get to the recipe....

Servings: 24ish (I made my cookies pretty big!)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• About 10-15 mini candy canes
• 8 oz ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate (2 big bars) broken up into squares
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
•  4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs at room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 package Nestle chocolate chunks 

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone cookie mats
• Get a microwavable tupperware and put in it the 8oz of ghirardelli chocolate bars broken up into squares and the butter. Microwave for 1 minute and then stir together. If the chocolate hasn't completely melted, put it back in for about 20 seconds or so. It should look like this.  

• You will need two mixing bowls. One for dry ingredients one for wet ingredients. In your dry bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. 
• In the wet bowl mix together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until the sugar completely dissolves. 
• Add the melted chocolate to the wet bowl and stir together. 
• Now add the dry mix to the wet mix and combine all. 
• Add the chocolate chunks. 
• Using a tablespoon, place cookie dough on sheets about 2 inches apart. They don't have to look perfect, I like the rustic look :) 
• Place the sheets in the oven and set your time for about 11-13 minutes. After about 6 minutes, reverse the pans in the oven so everything gets evenly baked. 
• While you wait, place the candy canes in a ziplock bag and crush them with a hammer. 
• When the cookies are done and still hot, sprinkle candy cane and press it into the cookies slightly. They will stick pretty well as the cookie is still hot. I also sprinkled them with clear sprinkles!
• Allow them to cool on the sheets for about 10 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack and then serve and eaaaaat :) Have a glass of milk ready though, these bad boys are rich and soooo chocolatey! 

Enjoy! 
xoxo