Chocolate Mint Sandwiches

I made these beautiful, rich cookies last year for my chocolate/mint loving family. I'm pretty particular about my chocolate and peppermint duos, for example, I don't like Peppermint Patties, Peppermint Bark or Junior Mints (sorry Kramer), Andes mints are...okay, Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, now you're talking, Starbucks White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha--oh yeah and objectively speaking, these cookies were pretty awesome, the peppermint is not overpowering, it's mostly about the ganache  and chocolate glaze for me.

For the Cookies:

1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

Confectioners' sugar, for the work surface

For the Ganache:

1/4 cup heavy cream

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped ( I just used chocolate chips)

3/4 tsp. peppermint extract

For the Glaze:

6 oz semisweet chocolate

1. Make cookies: Whisk together cocoa powder and flour in a medium bowl; set aside.  Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Mix in egg until well blended.  reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.  Divided dough in half, and shape each half into a disk; wrap in plastic.  Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour (or overnight).

2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Transfer dough to a work surface lightly dusted with confectioners' sugar. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out cookies using a 2 inch round cookie cutter (you can see I used a small snowflake cutter); space 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Repeat with remaining scraps of dough.  Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm, 10-12 minutes.  Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

  

3. Meanwhile, make ganache: Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add chocolate.  Cook, stirring constantly, until chocolate is smooth.  Stir in peppermint extract.  Let cool slightly, 10-15 minutes.

4.  Spoon 1 tsp. ganache onto the bottom of 1 cookie; sandwich with another cookie.  Repeat with remaining cookies and ganache.  Refrigerate until firm, about 10 minutes.

5.  Make glaze: Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring constantly.  Let cool slightly.  Dip 1 flat side of each sandwich into melted chocolate to coat; gently shake off excess. Place sandwiches, chocolate side up, on wire racks set over baking sheets.  Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes.  Sandwiches can be refrigerated in a single layer in airtight containers up to 2 days (2 days? Whatever, we had them for at least a week and they were fine, I did keep them in the fridge, because of the heavy cream).

Not gonna lie, these cookies were some of the most time consuming 

I've made, but it's kind of fun once a year to spend time in the kitchen 

making special treats. They really are beautiful.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the finished product! Thankfully Martha still has a link for hers, click here for the complete look.

Enjoy!