The Art of Creating Chewy Peppermint Brownie Cookies

As a video producer for NYT Cooking, I'm always on the lookout for new and exciting recipes to share with my audience. When it comes to sweets, my family is a bit obsessed, and we spend most of the holidays baking up a storm. One of our favorite treats is peppermint brownies, which are always a hit. So, when I started thinking about creating a cookie recipe that captured the essence of those delicious brownies, I knew I had to get creative.

I have to give props to my friend Jessie, who's like the cookie master. I tried out his brownie cookies and was blown away by how good they were. The best part of a brownie, in my opinion, is the corner piece – it's just so delicious! I realized that these cookies could be the perfect representation of the perfect brownie. To achieve this, I knew I had to use high-quality ingredients, particularly real chocolate.

I prefer using whole bars of chocolate rather than chocolate chips. The binding agent around the outside of the chocolate chips prevents them from having that silky smooth, velvety texture that I love in a good brownie. By using whole bars, I can get multiple textures going on – the chewiness of the outside, the softness of the inside, and the crunch of the peppermint on top.

One of the key elements to achieving this textured cookie is the addition of chopped peppermint. I like to use something that will provide a bit of texture but not be too fine. My family's neighbor can get quite loud, so if you're looking for a solution, just crush some peppermint and add it to the mix! The hot butter really blooms the chocolate, creating an even deeper flavor profile.

Another important ingredient is dark brown sugar. It brings out the chocolaty flavor and adds moisture to the cookies. Molasses also plays a significant role in providing that extra layer of moisture and depth to the cookie. White sugar helps to create a beautiful shine on top once the cookies start to set. And, let's not forget about salt – it's always an important addition to any recipe.

When it comes to mixing these ingredients together, I like to use my trusty stand mixer. If you don't have one, don't worry! A hand mixer will do in a pinch. The reason we mix for so long is because there's no chemical leavener in this recipe – all the lift comes from whipping the eggs and sugar together. This creates that beautiful texture at the end of the cookie.

I try not to be too finicky with recipes, but this one really does require a bit of finesse. You need to scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly and add salt towards the end. And, of course, don't forget the peppermint extract – we use a teaspoon and a half, which might seem like a lot to some people, but trust me, it's worth it.

Now that our ingredients are mixed together, let's talk about scooping out the cookies. I love using a quarter cup cookie scoop, but if you don't have one, a quarter cup measure will do just fine. Just be aware that the batter might be slightly runnier in hot kitchens – mine always seems to be!

The final step is baking the cookies. They bake for about 10 minutes before being taken out and whacked on the counter (yes, you read that right!). This helps create a craggly exterior and sets the peppermint on top. It's essential to let them set up a bit on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack.

And, finally, we have our beautiful plate of cookies! These babies are not for the faint of heart – they're fudgy, rich, chocolatey, and utterly delicious. The combination of the edge of the brownie and the soft interior is absolute perfection. If you haven't tried these yet, do yourself a favor and get baking. They're sure to be a hit at any holiday party or gift basket.

Happy baking, happy holidays, and I'll see myself out with this whole plate of cookies!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enyou should see the other guy i got in a fight with a stand mixer and the stand mixer won and that's all you need to know hello everybody my name is vaughn i am a video producer for nyt cooking and today i'm going to be making chewy peppermint brownie cookies my family is a very big sweets family so during the holidays we are constantly baking and i always make peppermint brownies that are just so delicious i you know cover them in crushed peppermint and white chocolate and the crowd truly goes wild right and so when i was thinking about a cookie recipe for this year i was thinking you know what if i took that idea of the brownie and i turned it into a cookie itself gotta give props to my friend jessie who is like the cookie master and i had a version of his brownie cookies and i was like wow why aren't we making more brownie cookies the best part of a brownie i think correct me if i'm wrong internet but it's the corner piece of the brownie right these cookies really are like the best part of every single brownie they're simply so good i'm going to chop some things any brownie recipe worth its salt has real chocolate in it i always prefer using whole bar rather than chocolate chips chocolate chips just tend to have like a binding agent around the outside of them and that binding agent kind of prevents this silky smooth chocolatiness from happening there's multiple textures going on with the chewiness of the outside the soft kind of pillowy interior what's another texture that i could get in there and i was like topping it with chopped peppermint would get that little crunch factor and it just creates this like very dynamic type of cookie cutting it is a messy venture i'm just gonna say it's gonna shatter it's gonna go everywhere you know if you really hate your neighbors just put these in a bag and really crush them you know what our neighbors are loud let's let's get loud i don't want a powder i want something that will be textural but not too fine my family uses a horrifying amount of butter during the holidays when butter is on sale my grandma would make us go buy like at least 10 pounds of it and just keep it in the freezer i'm not even kidding half of the cocoa powder goes into the chopped chocolate and half of it goes with the dry ingredients the hot butter kind of blooms this chocolate and it really really creates this even more depth of chocolatiness you will taste these cookies and you'll be like this is a chocolate cookie the dark brown sugar is gonna really bring out the chocolaty flavor i think that that molasses also lends this moisture that's going to be really kind of important the white sugar also kind of helps with that like beautiful shine that comes on top once you start to see some of those like chunks of the dark brown sugar dissipate a little bit more then you can crank it up you can do this with a hand mixer for sure if you don't have a stand mixer your arm might get a little tired you might switch it out a little bit and the reason why you mix them for so long is because there's no chemical leavener there's no baking powder there's no baking soda in this recipe all of the lift from your cookies really comes from the whipping of the eggs and the sugar and that's really what creates this kind of like beautiful texture that you get at the end i try not to be too finicky in recipes but this really is like an important step a little scrape down and then i'm going to add salt because i forgot to do that but it's fine and some peppermint extract this recipe uses a teaspoon and a half and that might be shocking to some people but it's fine it's a peppermint cookie you want to taste peppermint and now is the time to stir our chocolate with the mixer running i'm going to stream this in now i'm going to give the bowl a nice good scrape down we want to make sure that everything is really well incorporated i don't want to over mix these by any means so i'm gonna finish incorporating this like residual flour that's on the side by hand i have a quarter cup cookie scoop if you don't have a quarter cup cookie scoop you can very easily just use a quarter cup measure and it should be fine i feel like when i tested these i was at home in my kitchen is really hot and so sometimes the batter can be like a little bit runnier than that but these are scooping out pretty nicely so these bake for about 10 minutes you take them out you kind of whack them on the counter then you do get more of that craggly exterior and also it densifies the brownie a little bit more and then you put them back in there just for another couple minutes and that will allow obviously the cookies to finish baking but the peppermint to kind of set on the top of the cookie themselves so that when you're eating them it doesn't like go flying everywhere you can see that the peppermint started to melt a little bit but it didn't completely flood the top of the cookie i'm gonna let them set up a little bit on the baking sheet and then to a cooling rack to set up completely to room temperature wow what a beautiful plate of cookies first of all she's hefty this is a cookie knot for the faint of heart look at how like fudgy those are on the inside they're like delightful yeah this is it you have the best of every world and here you've got like the edge of the brownie but then you have that really soft interior that those weird middle brownie people love they're just so chocolatey they're so rich and the peppermint's there to like complement the chocolate so i just hope that everybody tries them they're truly so delicious and they couldn't be easier to make i think that they'll be a crowd pleaser at any holiday party in any gift basket in any cookie box so just try them and let me know what you think happy baking happy holidays and i'm gonna see myself out with this whole entire plate of cookies\n"