Peppermint Mocha Shortbread
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I’m kicking off December with a week of Christmas cookies!
Starting off with these peppermint mocha shortbread cookies, which would be perfect in a holiday cookie box or in any holiday dessert spread.
These start out with a super simple espresso infused chocolate shortbread base, then they’re dipped in dark or semisweet chocolate and decorated with the crushed candy canes for a little festive flair and minty flavour.
What do I need to make them?
Your grocery list is pretty short for these! The only things that might be tricky to find are the espresso powder and the crushed candy canes. Espresso powder can usually be found with the instant coffees in any well stocked grocery store, and crushed candy canes sometimes be found in the bulk section (or at a bulk store like Bulk Barn), but if you can’t find any you can always make your own by crushing up candy canes.
Here’s your full grocery list:
-Salted Butter
-Icing Sugar
-Cocoa Powder
-All Purpose Flour (I like unbleached)
-Espresso Powder/Instant Espresso
-Crushed Candy Cane
-Semiweet or Dark Chocolate Chips
-Coconut Oil or Shortening
You’ll also need: A kitchen scale, a hand mixer or stand mixer (or you can mix these by hand, it will just take a little more work), a couple baking sheets & wire cooling racks, parchment paper, and a sharp paring knife.
Tips & Tricks
This recipe calls for softened butter, not room temperature butter. Softened butter should be softer than room temperature butter. You can soften your butter by putting it in the microwave for 5-10 seconds at a time, until you can poke it gently with your finger and it leaves a dent. If your butter isn’t soft enough before you start, your dough might be crumbly and hard to work with.
You can make your shortbread a different shape if you want! I made mine into a rectangle shape, but you can roll your dough into a log for round shortbread if that’s easier for you.
Ready to bake them?
Here's the full recipe!
Peppermint Mocha Shortbread
This espresso infused chocolate shortbread dipped in chocolate & sprinkled with crushed candy cane pieces would be perfect in a holiday cookie box!
Ingredients
- 270g All Purpose Flour
- 30g Cocoa Powder
- 225g Salted Butter, softened
- 2 tsp Espresso Powder
- 125g Icing Sugar
- 200g Dark or Semisweet Chocolate Chips
- 2 tsp Coconut Oil or Vegetable Shortening
- Crushed Candy Cane Pieces, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the softened butter, icing sugar, and espresso powder on medium speed until the icing sugar is completely incorporated & mixture is fluffy (about 2 minutes), stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. You can also use a hand mixer, or use a wooden spoon and mixing bowl and mix by hand.
- Add the flour/cocoa mixture to the mixer bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer and mix by hand until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Turn out your dough onto a lightly floured, clean work surface. Lightly flour the top of your dough and roll it into a log. If you want rectangular cookies like mine, use a fondant smoother or the bottom of a measuring cup to flatten each side of the log until it is rectangular. My log was about 1" x 2". Cut your log in half and place in ain airtight container in the fridge to chill for one hour or up to 24 hours.
- When ready to bake: Preheat your oven to 350 F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Slice your cookies with a sharp paring knife. I made mine about 1cm/0.4" thick, and that gave me 30 cookies. If yours are thinner or thicker you will need to adjust the baking time accordingly. Place your cookies on the parchment lined baking sheets, leaving about an inch of space between each cookie. Poke each cookie with a fork a couple times and Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes, just until the cookies are no longer shiny on top.
- Place your baking sheets on wire racks to cool.
- While your cookies are cooling, melt your chocolate chips. Put them in a microwave safe mug with your coconut oil or shortening and melt them by microwaving in 30 second intervals, stirring after each until completely melted.
- Once your cookies are completely cool, dip each halfway into the melted chocolate, shaking gently to get rid of the excess, then put them back onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle each with the crushed candy canes.
- Put your cookies in the fridge until the chocolate is set.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or in an airtight container in the freezer for several months.
