Chocolate Peppermint Ganache Cookies

The holiday season has officially begun, and even though we likely all overate this week5, today is nevertheless a day when I feel like celebrating by breaking a few rules.  I try pretty  hard all year, but no matter what I tell myself, I know that at Christmas, I will feel slightly cheated if I don’t get to enjoy making and eating a few cookies with a bunch of butter and sugar.  Not “breakfast cookies,” not “date-sugar” cookies, not “sneak-in-a-vegetable” cookies, just regular old nostalgic Christmas cookies.

BUT!  Since this is to be treated as a celebration and a rare occurrence, when I do make some naughty cookies, they have to be REALLY good.  I’m not going to break my sugar policy for just any nasty old thing.  You know what I mean, too.  We’ve all done it.  There’s a two-week old stale cookie still sitting on the counter, and you eat it anyways?  And it doesn’t even taste good?  Been there.  What a waste.

Well, these Chocolate Peppermint Ganache cookies come from a recipe posted by Maria at Two Peas and Their Pod, a cookie-queen.  They rank high on my list because the chocolate flavor is so rich and because I LOVE the chocolate and mint combo, especially at Christmas when all things peppermint sound a little bit more enticing than usual.  (I love mint chocolate chip all year long, but in my opinion, this flavor combo really shines at Christmas.)

Please forgive me for the quality of my pictures.  I took these pictures two years ago and haven’t had a chance to take more good shots of them since, but I’ve never had a chance to post about them.  Since I plan to make them this weekend, I wanted to go ahead and put this post out there.  Afterall, an imperfect picture of a cookie, just like an imperfect cookie, is better than no picture/cookie at all.  Less judging, people, more baking.

The chocolate cookies on their own are rich and soft and delicious, but all the peppermint flavor comes from the ganache, so for Pete’s sake, DON’T SKIP THE GANACHE!!  The crushed candy-canes, however… well, they look pretty in the photos, but when it comes to flavor, don’t stress about it.  If you’re not going to photograph your cookies or take them somewhere to try to impress your inlaws or something, if you’re making them just to sit down and enjoy them, then just dip them in the ganache and commence eating.

Ok, down to business.  To get the recipe so you can make these cookies and to appreciate Maria’s beautiful pictures, follow this link to Chocolate Peppermint Ganache Cookies!