Holiday Chocolate Decadence Cookies

Tonight I'm off to a parent meeting/potluck social and I'm bringing with me Chocolate Decadence Cookies. {The name really suits these treats.} The chocolate is dense and the peppermint patty icing is refreshing. The recipe comes from the most current Sunset Magazine but the glazing comes from a Sunset Magazine version of the very same cookie from 2007. {Yes, I do keep many magazines as I like to go back and look at recipes}.

On Saturday my friend Cristin hosted a fabulous holiday open house where she had these cookies. She stuck to the most current Sunset Magazine version and used the peppermint patty icing between two cookies and then rolled the edges around in crushed candy cane. They looked marvelous this way too. I suggest doing an assortment of both versions for a little cookie drama.

Chocolate Decadence Cookies

Ingredients

10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Put chocolate and butter in a medium bowl and set over a pan filled with 1 in. simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until melted, then remove from heat and let cool slightly. Whisk in eggs and sugar, mixing until combined. Then whisk in flour, baking powder, and salt. Chill dough, covered, until firm, about 2 hours.

Let dough sit at room temperature 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat over to 350 and line baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop 1 tbsp. portions of dough, rolling each into a ball, and put onto cookie sheet 1 in. apart. BE SURE TO PRESS DOWN ON THE COOKIES. The recipe doesn't say to do this but if you don't, they'll come out too fat. I learned this trick from Cristin.

Bake cookies until they no longer look wet on top, about 8 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet before transferring onto wire rack.

Peppermint Patty Icing

Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar

4 tbsp. milk

3/4 tsp. peppermint extract

Sunset Living in the West, December 2009.

Christmas Ornaments . . .

Yesterday we finally got our tree. Hurray!! I've been dying for one since Thanksgiving.

Everytime we travel to Lincoln City, Oregon {usually in the summer} we always stop by the Christmas store to buy ornaments. We each pick one out and then when we're back home, we store them away until Christmastime. Yesterday I pulled out the ones we bought this past summer and it was like seeing them for the first time.

This is the ornament Sammy selected. It suits her personality to a tee.

You probably guessed that this one belongs to Alex. Alex remains the silliest and most fun loving out of all of us so no wonder she picked the Groovy Bus ornament.

This is the one that I selected. This ornament comes from Russia where it was hand painted using tiny little brushes. I'm going to miss it when it's time to take the tree down.