Double Chocolate Peppermint Kisses ~ Day 2 of the 12 Days of Cookies '12

WOW! This is the 500th post on the 365 blog. AND we've reached over 9,000 fans on our Facebook page and are close to 600 on Pinterest.
I love you all and I thank you for your continued support from the very bottom of my heart.
I am extremely grateful!

And I have a headache.
A really-making-me-feel-so-miserable-that-I'm-not-even-going-to-cook-dinner kind of headache.
But it is Day 2 of the 12 Days of Cookies, so we need to press on.
And onward we will!
Even if we do have some blurry pictures. Grrrr.....

I found these gems at Walmart Wally World while shopping one day.

I didn't even know they existed!!
But apparently, they've been around for years.
I got this great idea to make the peanut butter blossom cookies with them only using a double chocolate cookie for the base instead of the peanut butter.
I wasn't too sure I'd like mint with my peanut butter.
That's like eating peanut butter after you brush your teeth.
No bueno.
Blech.

Believe it or not, I couldn't find a plain ol' chocolate cookie in one of my cookbooks to use, so I did a search and of course, somebody or at least quite a few sombodies, had already done it.
One of those somebodies is Jessica over at How Sweet It Is.
I have a food blogger girl crush on Jessica.
I'm not gonna lie.
She's amazing, she's brilliant and I love, love LOVE with a capital L-O-V-E, her site.
I think I would be completely tongue-tied if I met her in person.
She is a celebrity to me.

So, like I said, apparently these Peppermint Candy Cane Kisses have been around a few years because Jessica made this cookie back in aught 9.
You know, 09, 2009.
Yeah, whatevs.
I've never seen them until this year and I bring them home and my oldest daughter says, "Oh yeah, I bought a bag of these last year to keep a stash in my dorm room - they were so yummy."
Why am I always the last one to know about these things??!!
Not fair.
Guess I need to get out more.

And there's something I have to tell you.
If you are at all familiar with Jessica's blog, you need to click on the post for this cookie recipe and look at her pictures to compare the ones she took years ago to what she does now.
My jaw dropped.
Seriously.
It is just so very awesome to see how very far she's come and the incredible talent she has.
It also lets you know that there's hope for all of us if we're doing food photography.
She is amazing and is extremely gifted.
Ok, I'm done.
I'll stop gushing.

From How Sweet It Is.


Double Chocolate Peppermint Kisses - makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 10 ounce package dark chocolate chips
1 package Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses (don't worry, there will be some extras left for you to nibble on)

Directions
Unwrap Kisses and place them in a Ziploc bag to be stored in the freezer overnight before baking the cookies.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or a Silpat baking pad.
In a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Cream until light and fluffy.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
Gradually add flour mixture to mixing bowl.
Beat until just combined.
Mix in dark chocolate chips.
Using a rounded tablespoonful of dough, roll into balls and place about 2-inches apart onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 2 minutes as you remove the Kisses from the freezer.
Place a kiss into the middle of each cookie.

Cool cookies on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream until light and fluffy.

Mix in dark chocolate chips.

Allow to cookies to cool on baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Can I tell you, well of course I'm going to tell you and I'm going to tell you anyway...
I LOVED these cookies!!
I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and these Double Chocolate Peppermint Kisses earned 4 rolling pins!
They were so chocolatey delicious, chewy and fudgy and the peppermint kiss was...
OOH LA LA!!!!

It was so very creamy, but yet a tad bit crunchy because of the candy cane bits in it.
It SO completed the cookie!
I'll definitely be making these again.
The 365 family loved them, too because they didn't last very long.
And the reason I put the kisses in the freezer was because they melted really quickly into the cookies and didn't at all resemble the kisses in the peanut butter blossoms.
They flattened.
They were still yummy, but they were flat.
So putting them into the freezer will help them keep their shape, but I'm not guaranteeing it.

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!