Happy Saturday! Recently, I’ve started using my weekday column, Reflecting on the Magic, to occasionally share food items found in the Walt Disney World parks and resorts that I think you should add to your must-eat list. Today’s Saturday Snacks recipe is a direct tie-in to the must-eat snack that I recommended on Thursday for your next holiday season WDW trip. If you didn’t read Thursday’s column, click here to get caught up on my deep and undying love for the Chocolate Peppermint Cookie found at the Contemporary Resort‘s annual gingerbread display.
Today, even though it’s nowhere near Christmastime, we’re going to take a shot at creating an at-home version of this beloved cookie. We’ve got a little extra at-home time right now, so let’s make good use of it. Plus, making these cookies is right in line with my quarantine cookie eating ways. They are my love language, after all.
I made two notable adjustments to the recipe to get it a hair closer to the Contemporary’s cookie: I added roughly 3/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract to the batter and substituted round peppermint candies for the required candy canes. The original cookie has a slight peppermint flavor mixed in with its fudgy richness, and I was hoping that a bit of extract would help me out in that area. I saw other recipes online that utilized peppermint extract, so I was hopeful that the results would be favorable. Candy canes are in short supply in June, so 25 or so peppermint candies will be taking their place.
This recipe is super simple. In fact, it was a bit too simplistic, and I had to compare and contrast it against other chocolate peppermint cookie recipes to clarify what to do at certain points. My additions and notes are in italics in the recipe at the end of this article.
You’ll start by tossing your cake mix, 2 eggs, a 1/2 cup of softened butter, and a 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Eat a few of the leftover chocolate chips while you’re at it. You deserve it.
This is also when you’ll add the peppermint extract. Ahhh…just the smell of it screams Christmas.
Thoroughly mix the ingredients. The resulting batter will be thick, and, when I went to roll the dough balls to place them on the cookie sheet, I found out that the batter is also incredibly sticky. I popped the dough into the fridge (and eventually the freezer) to take some of the stickiness away. It worked somewhat, but the dough was still really sticky. Place the dough balls onto the cookie sheet, and press them down, forming circles. Don’t press them too flat; you’ll want thicker cookies like the originals.
I pressed my first batch (pictured above) down further than I did my second batch. Both were good, but I enjoyed the thicker cookies more than the thinner ones.
While the cookies are in the oven, count out your round peppermint candies, toss them in a baggie (double bag it), and break them with a hard object.
I used the handle of a butter knife, but the recipe calls for a rolling pin. Either way, crush the candies until they are small chunks and dust, and you’ll be good to go.
Once the cookies come out of the oven, you’ll have options on how you’d like to top them once they’ve cooled off just a bit. I started off simply sprinkling on the crushed peppermints, and pressing them into the warm cookies. Then I remembered that I had a jar of hot fudge in the fridge, and topped each cookie with a generous dollop and pressed the candies into that. Yum!
Another option would be to melt the remaining mini chocolate chips over a double boiler to create a ganache. Each cookie would receive a drizzle of ganache and a sprinkling of peppermint, and, once the ganache cools and hardens, you’d be really close to the original. I’ll be going the ganache route when I try these again.
Because I wanted to make the cookies larger in size to mirror the Contemporary’s version, this recipe only made 18 or so cookies.
These cookies were delicious. Later that evening, I placed them in a gallon-size bag and popped them into the fridge. Would you believe that they were even yummier, chewier, and fudgier (yes, that’s a word now) straight out of the refrigerator the next day? Well, they were.
When I try the recipe again, I’ll be looking for a way to amp up the richness of the chocolate in the cookie. While they were incredibly good, they fell just short of having the same depth of chocolate as the original. It’ll be fun figuring out how to make that happen.
Do you have a favorite Disney snack that you’re making at home these days? If so, please share below. Happy Disney snacking!
Ready to give the recipe a spin? Check it out below:
Disney’s Peppermint Cookies
Ingredients
Chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
3 candy canes (or 25ish round peppermint candies)
Vanilla frosting (chocolate ganache/hot fudge/whatever you can get your hands on)
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
Directions
Pour the chocolate cake mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup butter, 3/4 tsp peppermint extract, and 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips into a mixing bowl.
Mix ingredients completely.
After mixing, take a small scoop of the cookie dough and ball it in your hands.
Place your cookie dough ball on a cookie sheet and push down until it spreads into a circle.
Add two mini cookie dough balls for ears. (I omitted this step.)
Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.
While the cookies are in the oven, place 3 candy canes inside a plastic bag and seal shut. Use a rolling pin and crush the candy canes until only small pieces remain.
Allow cookies to cool.
Frost cookies with a piping bag or butter knife.
Sprinkle crushed peppermint on top of the cookies.
Source: Good Morning America