Sugar Cookies with Chocolate & Peppermint

the cutout cookie army

the finished product!

Edible gift number two. Buttery Christmas cutout cookies drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with crushed peppermint sticks. I am a big fan of pairing chocolate and peppermint. When Girl Scouts come around pushing those Thin Mint cookies, I cannot resist.We've packaged these beauties in cellophane, trussed them up with ribbon, and they adorn the checkout lanes at the Co-op.  They are the perfect edible gift to share!!


Sugar Cookie Cutouts with Chocolate & Peppermint

 Cookies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbl sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
bittersweet chocolate, melted
candy canes, crushed


Preperation:
Sift  first 3 ingredients into a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1 cup sugar in a large bowl and blend well. Add egg, sour cream, and vanilla, and beat for about 1 minute. Beat dry ingredients in 2 additions until just blended. Gather dough together, divide in half. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Softened dough slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sprinkle work surface and top of dough with additional sugar. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness (dough will be very soft). Using assorted 2 to 3 inch cookie cutters, cut out cookies. Transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps and roll out on a sugared surface and cut out more cookies. Repeat until all the dough is used. Chill all cookies on baking sheets at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until light golden at edges, about 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.

Melt with chocolate in a double boiler, being careful to remove the chocolate when it is almost done. Finish stirring the chocolate until it is smooth. Drizzle the cooled cookies with chocolate. Alternately, you could dip half of the cookie in the chocolate. Before the chocolate has cooled and set, sprinkle with crushed peppermint candy canes. Belly up!!