Peppermint Hot Cocoa Cookies

I came up with the peppermint Hot Cocoa Cookies because I bought a bag of these:

Kraft has it all, even Peppermint Mallows. I bought these and thought to myself how wonderful they would be in a chocolate cookie. 

These cookies are melt in your mouth, chewy, with a little crunch. More chocolate than peppermint, but just enough peppermint to give you that refreshing flavor. The cookie itself almost resembles the taste of a brownie. The cookie is filled with peppermint marshmallows (Hence the "Hot Cocoa" name) and topped with just a little crushed peppermint. 




What you will need:
*Makes about 18 Large Cookies*

• 1 Stick Butter softened
• 3/4 Cup White Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cup Flour (I used Whole Wheat)
• 1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder unsweetened
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon Corn Starch (This is the key ingredient to any good cookie, makes them fluffy, not flat. Also keeps that "perfect circle" look) 
• 1/3 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
• 1 Bag Kraft Peppermint Mallows (you won't need the entire bag)
• 1 Bag Crushed Peppermint Candy (or crushed candy canes) 

The Process:

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Mix the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until creamy. While this is mixing, sift the flour in a separate bowl with the cocoa powder, baking soda, corn starch, and salt. Slowly add that to the butter mixture. *This will be a very thick dough, not your average cookie dough. It may even seem a bit dry, but trust me once you bake it, it's the perfect consistency.* Now add the Dark Chocolate Chips (put mixer on stir setting). Dough will look something like this:

Take pieces of the dough and flatten them out into circles, big enough to fit 3 Marshmallows. Place 3 peppermint mallows inside of each cookie and roll the dough around the mallows (make sure the mallows are fully covered) so they are in the inside of the cookie. Example:

Once you have completed this process, you can place peppermint candy on top of the cookie dough ball.

Make sure you get the excess peppermint candy off the wax paper before you put them in the oven. The candy melts down into a sugar that will smoke a little bit when cooked too long. The cookies are ready for the oven. Cook for 8 Minutes. Trust me this is the perfect amount of time, even if you think they aren't done, they are. Take them out and let them sit for approximately 5 minutes on the baking sheet (this will cook them the rest of the way without overcooking) before you transfer them to a cooling rack.  

Now you have this gooey chocolate cookie with a slightly crunchy peppermint topping. Serve with Hot Cocoa to make them even more delicious!

Hope you enjoy them :)