Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Looking for something delicious to do with leftover candy canes? These rich chocolatey cookies full of crushed candy cane pieces and dark chocolate chips are sure to be a hit with your friends and family this New Year's!

What You Need:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup shortening
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup crushed candy cane or peppermint bits

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

What You Do:

• Mix the wet ingredients
• Mix the dry ingredients
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix
• Add the candy and mix (I had to mix it by hand, even with a Kitchenaid mixer, which I usually don't have to do even when suggested in recipes. I recommend it if you want the candy cane pieces mixed in evenly!)
• Bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes.

Helpful Tips:

• Using a pie server with serrated edge may make it easier to remove the cookies from the cookie sheet
• The cookies maintain their round shape better if you let them rest a minute or two on the cookie sheet before transfering them to a cooling rack or festive plate
• Makes almost exactly 5 dozen cookies when I use my cookie dough scoop (I don't know the capacity but the cookies end up about 3-4 in in diameter after baking)
• To crush candy canes, try putting them in a large ziplock bag with pretty much all the air squished out or in between two layers of plastic wrap and them smush them with a rolling pin.

I modified this recipe from the German Chocolate Fudgy cookies on the Crisco website.