recipe: peppermint pattie cookies

Oh my! I'm knee-deep with planning lessons, grading papers and all other things teaching! While I'm loving finally having my own classroom, I'm still working on finding the balance between my job...and the other parts of my life. Blogging has wandered to the sidelines since August but I want one of my goals for 2013 to be to get back to it! So I'm sharing an amazing recipe for peppermint pattie cookies I found today - I'm baking these super soon! 

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup loosely brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips

peppermint pattie cream
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

ganache
3.5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
2.5 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

"Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the cooled butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Gradually add in dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold in chocolate chunks. Roll dough into 1-1 1/2-inch balls and place on a nonstick baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the middles are just set. Don’t over bake! Let cool completely. While cookies are cooling, add powdered sugar, butter, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla and peppermint extracts to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until smooth and creamy. Use a spatula and spread the peppermint cream over the top of each cookie evenly."