By Beth V
If you are like me, the Christmas season presents a great opportunity to try a couple of new cookie recipes to supplement the old tried and true varieties. I stumbled upon two recently that were not only delicious-sounding, but also really cute visually, and pretty easy to pull off. One had a chewy, fudgy cookie with a melted peppermint/white chocolate Hershey’s Kiss melted on top. What a delicious flavor combination! The other uses refrigerated pie crust cut into circles and sealed around a Hershey’s kiss creating adorable little hand-held “kiss pies.” A recipe with less than five ingredients? 
Sure, why not supplement more complicated baking with something so easy and cute? I did find some delicious Mint Truffle kisses for my “kiss pies,” but my local stores were out of the peppermint-striped Candy Cane Kisses, so I was happy to find these delicious Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips and I set to work creating my own version.
First, stir together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Next, beat together the butter, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Once that looks good and creamy, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add in the dry ingredients and observe the beautiful chocolaty goodness!
Now comes the fun part. I stirred both chocolate chips and some peppermint crunch chips into the batter (hence the DOUBLE chocolate). Yum!
Next, spoon about a tablespoon of batter an inch or two apart onto a baking sheet. 
To add to the visual appeal of these cookies, gently press a couple of pinches of pepper crunch chips over the surface of each ball of dough. The peppermint crunch chips are so delicious! They are soft and peppermint-y with tiny little crunchy peppermint crispies throughout.
Bake about 10 minutes and this is what will greet you! They really puff quite a bit in the oven. They are so good!
Mmm! Look at that gooey melted chocolate chip. Glad I added those in!
Double Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies
Adapted from verybestbaking.com
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) total stir-ins, half chocolate chips, and half peppermint crunch chips
Preheat oven to 350º F. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chunks. Drop by approximately tablespoon-sized balls onto ungreased baking sheets. Gently press additional peppermint crunch chips over the top of each dough ball. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set but still soft. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Next, I moved on to the kiss pies. There is a beautiful tutorial on these here, so I will not replicate it, but here are a few quick photos from my “Kiss Pie” baking!
Enjoy!
Beth is a stay-at-home mom of three wonderfully active children ages seven, four and one. She is married to Jason V (who also writes for us here at MAD21) and spends her days teaching, changing diapers, sweeping up Cheerios, stepping over Legos, keeping peace among the kids, and enjoying the creative outlet of cooking.