Averie Cooks

-1 Preheat oven and line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat liners; set aside.
-1 To a small microwave-safe bowl, add the chopped chocolate, and heat on high power to melt in 30 seconds intervals, stopping to check after each interval, and stirring until smooth and melted; set aside. Tips - You want to use chopped chocolate from a bar, rather than chocolate chips, because the chocolate will melt much easier and smoothly. I like Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate Bars or a Ghirardelli Semi Sweet Bar. You can use darker chocolate bars such as 72% chocolate (cookies will be less sweet) or milk chocolate bars (cookies will be sweeter), depending on preference.
-1 To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large mixing bowl and handheld electric mixer), add the butter, ½ granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cream them (a verb, not an ingredient) on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes until smooth, light, and fluffy. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
-1 Add the egg, vanilla extract, peppermint extract* (read the Notes), and mix momentarily to incorporate.
-1 Add the melted chocolate and mix momentarily to incorporate. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl; set batter aside.
-1 In a separate large bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder (Tips - I use Hershey's but you can use something fancier if you like such as Scharffen Berger; Dutch process cocoa has not been tested nor necessary for this recipe), baking powder, salt, and whisk to combine.
-1 Slowly, add the dry ingredients to the wet, in 3 additions, stopping to beat the dry ingredients into the wet on low speed with your mixer, until just combined, but don't overmix; and repeating twice more, or until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.
-1 Optionally, but recommended, add the crushed candy cane bits, and mix for a couple seconds to incorporate. Tips - Crush candy canes in a sealed ziptop plastic bag with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer tool, placing the bag on a cutting board, and a kitchen towel over the top, to protect your counters and the contents in the bag. To save time, I like using already crushed candy bits. They keep forever and are great to have for holiday baking needs. Brach's Peppermint Candies (or similar peppermint candies) also work well here and are less seasonally dependent than actual candy canes or candy cane bits.
-1 Using a medium cookie scoop, form rounded 1-tablespoon mounds of dough. Tips - I make 24 cookies with this recipe and while you could make the cookies bigger or smaller, for the positioning and size-proportionality later on with the Hershey's Kiss, I think it's best to aim for about 24 cookies.
-1 Add the extra ⅓ cup granulated sugar to a small bowl and gently but thoroughly roll each cookie dough ball through the sugar.
-1 Place the cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, divided and spaced evenly. I bake 12 cookies per sheet because the cookies are on the smaller side and don't spread excessively. Tip - You do not need to chill the cookie dough before baking in this recipe.
-1 Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes, taking care not to overbake the cookies. Tips - I bake one sheet at a time, on the center oven rack, rotating the baking sheet once midway through baking. I find I get the best results this way. It's a bit tricky to tell when chocolate cookies are done, because the dough is already dark. In general though, chocolate cookies with cocoa powder can tend to bake quicker than you think, and also dry out quicker than you think, so if in doubt, pull them sooner rather than later. Cookies always firm up, harden, and are dryer out of the oven.
-1 While the cookies bake, unwrap all the Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses and have them ready. Tip - If you can't find these locally or don't want to order them, another favorite type of Kiss may be used from classic milk chocolate to white chocolate.
-1 As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, gently press a Kiss into the center of each cookie, making sure to press it down just firmly enough that the bottom surface of the Kiss is securely in contact with the top of the cookie so that the Kisses melt just enough to adhere well upon cooling.
-1 Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack after about 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet before enjoying.
-1 Storage - Cookies will keep airtight at room temp for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Cookie dough balls may also be frozen and then baked off, as desired. When baking from frozen, you don't have to allow the dough balls to thaw and can bake directly from frozen, adding a minute or two to the overall baking time, or as necessary.