Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are the perfect addition to your Christmas Cookie baking list. These thumbprint cookies are soft and chewy and so delicious. We love to make a few batches at a time so that our kids can eat a few and make homemade gifts for the teachers too.

Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies

Name: Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 9 min
Total time: 9 min
Yield: 30
Cuisine: Christmas
Ingredients: 1 cup (2 sticks); 3/4 cup granulated sugar; 1/3 cup cocoa powder; 3 tablespoons milk; 2 cups flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 10 oz bag Ghirardelli's chocolate melting wafers; 10 pieces peppermint candies; crushed; 1/2 cup jet puffed mini marshmallow bits

Ingredients for chocolate peppermint cookies

butter
granulated sugar
cocoa powder
milk
flour
salt
baking powder
baking soda
chocolate melting wafers
peppermint candies
mini marshmallows

Instructions to make Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place silicon sheets on a baking sheet.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in cocoa powder and milk.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients slowly while mixing.
Roll dough into small balls (about 1″ wide) and place on prepared baking sheet. Use your thumb to press down in the center of the balls.

Bake for approx. 9 minutes until cookies look dry and start to crack a bit around the top. Gently press down the centers again with a small spoon. Allow to cool completely.

Melt the Ghirardelli’s chocolate wafers as listed on the package. Fill the thumbprint centers with the chocolate. Crush the peppermints with the flat side of a kitchen mallet and sprinkle on top. Add some marshmallow bits.

How to Bake in Batches to Make the Most of Your Baking Time

One way to handle your holiday baking is to bake in batches, then freeze and store for the big day. You can do this successfully over a couple of weeks with batch baking and batch preparing.

The biggest thing to remember is to only try a few different types of things in one day, or focus on just one type of baked good in one day. For example, you might want to bake all your quick breads in one day. Another day you can prepare all your cookie dough. Yet another time, you can bake all your fruit pies and so forth. This process makes the most of the time you have, the space you have, and your skill level.

Be Prepared

Don’t try batch baking without a plan of action. Be sure to write down your plans in advance so that you are sure you have enough time to do everything that you’ve planned. To figure out a basic time line, add up the prep time, the baking time for each oven full, and then multiply that by 1.5 to account for a little extra issues happening. Then you should be sure that you have enough time.

Get Everything Ready to Go

Your kitchen should be spotless when you start, and ensure that you have all the ingredients and appliances necessary to make each item ready to go. If you know, for example, that today you’ll be using about 10 pounds of flour, consider using a large bowl to hold the flour so you can easily spoon the flour into the measuring cup, flatten off over the bowl, without having to get into the bag over and over which usually means spillage.

Clean as You Go

Fill your sink immediately with hot soapy water so you can clean as you go. You will want to wash your mixing dishes and other utensils during the baking process so that you can use them again. There’s no point in totally destroying your kitchen as you batch bake, and you don’t have to. Set out a draining board, fill the sink with hot soapy water, and wash as you go. There are many opportunities during baking to wash a couple of dishes, and this will make the clean-up faster, and the process more organized.

All Day Batch Baking

You can set aside a day for batch baking such as a Saturday. Plan for all day baking, which usually entails 8 to 10 hours of work. Ensure that any other chores are done, including the shopping, and the kitchen is clean and ready prior to baking day. It’s important to organize your recipes with some logic behind them. For example, if you need dough to rise, start that first, so that it can be rising as you are preparing other things such as cookie dough or pie crusts. Both can be put in the refrigerator or freezer after preparation while you bake the bread, then baked after you bake the bread while the oven is still hot and ready.