white chocolate peppermint rounds

 My sister declared these the best cookies ever and let me tell you she is one tough critic. Peppermint, white chocolate and crushed candy canes, when combined create the perfect Christmas cookie. I made up a few batches - the first were included in my Christmas Cookie boxes, the second batch was shared with my fellow team members at work.  No matter who you share these peppermint cuties with they are sure to put a smile on every ones face...so long as they like peppermint that is.

For the longest while I always had it stuck in my head cookies were so complicated to make - maybe that is because I have had my fair share of botched recipes. My goal this Holiday season was to set aside my "cookie baking fears" and head into the kitchen to bake up some classic cookie treats.

Overall it has been successful - once I pop the cookies into the oven I always fear they will either not spread out and bake up as little rocky mounds or flatten out so much they merge together and no longer resemble a single cookie but one big flat cookie bar. Thankfully I have been lucky, well except for the one lone cookie I managed to drop in the oven which promptly burned to a crisp leaving a smokey singed smell in the air -don't ask, I am not even sure what I was attempting to do when that happened. 

Peppermint scented vanilla cookies are drizzled with vegan white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes. Normally I am not the sit down and eat a candy cane just for the fun of it kind of girl, but I do love a good little sprinkle of candy cane on my cookies once a year.

Festive, bright and cute - the perfect little Christmas Cookie. Do you have a favorite Christmas Cookie that wouldn't be Christmas without baking up a batch or two?

White Chocolate Peppermint Rounds

makes 24 cookies

you will need:

for the dry

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

for the wet

5 tbsp vegan butter at room temp

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup soygurt

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup vegan white chocolate chips + 1 tbsp almond milk

2 candy canes - finely crushed

assembly:

pre heat oven to 325*

sift together dry ingredients into a medium bowl

in the bowl of a stand mixer or another large bowl if mixing by hand - cream together vegan butter and sugar until fluffy. add soygurt & extracts - mix for an additional 30 seconds.

add dry mix to stand mixer - mix until dry is well incorporated into the wet, about 30 seconds.

Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper - a teaspoon at a time drop rounds on dough onto each sheet (12 rounds to a sheet). Bake in a 325* pre heated oven for 13-15 minutes. Alternating cookie sheets halfway through baking time.

Allow cookies to fully cool on baking sheets. Meanwhile, place the vegan white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl - add 1 tbsp of almond milk. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each 30 seconds until chips have fully melted.

Drizzle cooled cookies with white chocolate or dip the tops of the cookies directly in to the chocolate- sprinkle with crushed candy canes and drizzle with additional white chocolate if desired.

Enjoy!