12 Days of Cookies – Peppermint Sandies
For my second cookie, I decided to try a new recipe. Hubby isn’t a huge fan of peppermint, but I enjoy it during the holidays. Last year, I made some peppermint truffles and cupcakes that were very good. I choose these Peppermint Sandies because they looked so cute and easy to make. I took them to work and of course they disappeared in no time. I wasn’t a huge fan of the texture. Mine may have been a bit undercooked? I took them out after 13 minutes right when the bottoms were starting to brown. Also, the recipe said that it makes 4 dozen, I only got 28 cookies. I used my usual cookie scoop but maybe mine were bigger than what they were supposed to be.
Hubby served as a guest photographer for these cookies as well. He did all the setup including choosing a background and staging the shot. Nice work again Hubby!
Peppermint Sandies – from Better Homes and Gardens – makes 2-4 dozen
1 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup finely crushed striped round peppermint candies
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whipping cream
6 ounces white baking chocolate
Crushed striped round peppermint candies
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar and the 1/4 cup crushed peppermint candies. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in water, vanilla, and peppermint extract until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 15 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool.
Meanwhile, for glaze: In a medium saucepan, bring whipping cream just to simmering. Remove from heat. Add white chocolate; let stand for 3 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let stand for 45 to 60 minutes or until glaze starts to thicken.
Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the glaze over each cooled cookie. Sprinkle with additional crushed peppermint candies. Let stand until glaze is set. Makes about 48 cookies.
My 12 Days of Cookies:Day 1: Lumberjacks
I’m submitting this to Food Bloggas Eat Christmas Cookies blogging event. Check this link to participate in the event. Or check here to see the roundup (gets updated as entries come in).
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
OMG, I am in love with these cupcakes! They’re so awesome! I love HP, and I made owl cupcakes when the movie came out. I might need to give these a try before going to see the IMAX 3D movie.
How cute are those?! And i was wondering how you got the lettering so perfect – thanks for the step-by-step. Lol – I just dragged DH to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry – I’m sure he’ll be happy when the final movie comes out and he doesn’t have to hear about it anymore!
Great job, how lucky are your friends?
I’m so jealous! My two sisters are going to the exhibit this weekend. I thought about flying to Chicago to join them. Luckily I found out the exhibit is coming here in October. Whew!
These look fabulous! You did such a great job on them!
WOW JEN!! Those are fantastic!! Better than professional! Seriously, what talent you have to make those! 🙂
Aw thanks Katie – you’re making me blush.
I hate when cupcakes do that to me too. Instead of baking up they bake out! 🙁
Love your Harry Potter cupcake toppers! Very cute and creative!
~ingrid
Hi Jen! A friend of mine forwarded me your page for HP Cupcakes and I just wanted to drop in and say that I think they’re awesome and I want to run home now and try to create some fun hp themed cakes! I had done some in the past–cauldron cakes if you will, by buying mini cauldrons and cutting the bottom off so the tops sat just on the cakes and then used a bit of green frosting on the inside. You should join up with the HP-MA crew! We’ve been organizing some meet-ups for Boston Fans!
Sounds awesome Manda.
Oh my goodness, what adorable little cupcakes!
So so cute! And yeah, those “HPs” must have taken FOREVER. I have a fabulous vanilla cupcake recipe that never fails me here: http://annies-eats.com/2008/07/18/vanilla-cupcakes/. Also, I recently made Dorie’s perfect party cake into cupcakes and had great results with that as well.
I love your HP cupcakes! I too am a huge Harry Potter fan but I have to admit, I don’t think I’d be patient enough to make cupcakes and toppings as cute as yours!
These are so awesome!! I wish I would have seen them and did some of these with the HP cake I did!!