Asheville will be all decked out in its Christmas holiday finery so it’s a great time to plan your visit to Pinecrest Bed & Breakfast. Our food changes seasonally so we are baking Peppermint Mocha Cookies, our most popular photo on Instagram…ever!
Our recipe is slightly adapted from one of our favorite sources, Sally’s Baking Addiction. Feeling a little lost in her career, she turned to baking, launched a blog with great photography and tips. Her hobby has turned into her job with 3 cookbooks, a successful blog, and nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram.
The baking tip for this recipe is to properly cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. That means relatively cold butter for FIVE minutes before adding cold eggs. For the science behind this advice, check out Why Cream Butter and Sugar. With a background in engineering, the intersection of science and baking is fascinating.
Put peppermint candies in a quart-size freezer bag. Place on a plastic cutting board and beat them with a meat pounder until crushed.
Ingredients
½ c unsalted butter, softened
½ c (100 g) white sugar
½ c (100 g) packed brown sugar
1 large egg, cold
1 t vanilla extract
1 t peppermint extract
1 c (125 g) all-purpose flour
½ c plus 2 T (53 g) cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
2 t espresso powder
⅛ salt
1 c (180g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz white melting chocolate (like Ghiradelli white vanilla flavored melting wafers)
15 Starlight peppermints, crushed
Directions
In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute. Add both sugars, beat on medium for 2 minutes then scrape down the sides. Beat for another 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, and both extracts on high speed until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt until combined. On low speed, slowly mix dry ingredients into wet then add chocolate chips.
Scoop and rolls balls of dough, about 1.5 T each, into 20 balls. Place in a cake pan to chill for one hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Put cookie dough balls on 2 silpat or parchment-lined or cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. If cookies have not spread, tamp with the bottom of a heavy glass to flatten. Cool completely.
Melt the white chocolate according to the manufacturer’s directions, using the microwave. Dip each cooled cookie halfway into the white chocolate and place on parchment paper. Sprinkle crushed peppermints on top of the white chocolate coating. Place cookies in the refrigerator to set.
These cookies are fun to make and even more fun to eat!
Plan Your Asheville Stay
Book Now to visit our comfortably elegant bed and breakfast in historic Montford. Homemade cookies every afternoon plus an indulgent breakfast make Pinecrest an ideal place to stay when you visit Asheville.