Mocha-Peppermint Mosaic Slice-and-Bake Butter Cookies
By Lan LamPublished on September 23, 2024
Time
1¼ hours, plus 2 hours chilling and cooling
Yield
Makes about 40 cookies
Ingredients
Before You Begin
You can use Dutched or natural cocoa powder and nonfat or whole dry milk powder here. To ensure that your cookies are the same size, it's important to roll the logs so that they have a diameter of 1½ inches. Don't skip the rest in step 7; letting the sliced dough warm to room temperature helps the cookies expand evenly as they bake. Tightly wrapped dough logs can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to two months. Thaw in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours before slicing.
Instructions
- Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together in bowl. In second bowl, whisk melted butter, granulated sugar, egg yolk, and peppermint extract until very smooth. Add flour mixture and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until well combined (dough will be loose). Let dough rest until firm, about 5 minutes.
- Shape dough into rough 8 by 5-inch rectangle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
- Sift espresso powder, cocoa, confectioners' sugar, and milk powder through fine-mesh strainer into medium bowl. Cut chilled dough into rough ¾-inch pieces. Add to espresso-cocoa mixture and toss until pieces are evenly coated. Transfer pieces to counter, shaking excess espresso-cocoa mixture back into bowl (do not discard). Divide dough pieces into 2 piles.
- Working with 1 pile, firmly squeeze one-quarter of pieces together to form dough ball with streaks of espresso mixture throughout (do not knead dough). Repeat with remaining three-quarters of dough to form 3 more balls. Squeeze and press dough balls together to form rough 8-inch log. Continue to shape and roll log until 1½ inches in diameter and about 9 inches long. Flatten log slightly on 2 sides, until it is 1 inch tall and has oval shape. Repeat with remaining dough pile to form second log.
- Transfer reserved espresso-cocoa mixture to counter and roll logs in mixture to coat evenly. Wrap logs tightly in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Slice logs into ¼-inch-thick ovals and space 1 inch apart on prepared sheets. Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until puffed and tops look dry but centers are still very soft, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking.
- Let cookies cool on sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Serve. (Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 10 days.)
Time
1¼ hours, plus 2 hours chilling and coolingYield
Makes about 40 cookiesIngredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
We started our slice-and-bake mocha-peppermint cookie dough with melted rather than softened butter. This allowed us to skip the usual creaming step and simply stir in the sugar along with an egg yolk and peppermint extract. A little baking powder opened up tiny air pockets in the dough and kept it from being too dense. The yolk's proteins and the sugar gave the cookies a pleasantly firm and crumbly texture and extended their shelf life to 10 days, making them ideal for shipping or gifting. We cut the dough into chunks and coated them in a mixture of espresso powder, cocoa powder, dry milk powder, and confectioners' sugar before pressing them together into logs. When coated with the remaining mocha mixture and sliced, the logs revealed a gorgeous, organic mosaic pattern.
Before You Begin
You can use Dutched or natural cocoa powder and nonfat or whole dry milk powder here. To ensure that your cookies are the same size, it's important to roll the logs so that they have a diameter of 1½ inches. Don't skip the rest in step 7; letting the sliced dough warm to room temperature helps the cookies expand evenly as they bake. Tightly wrapped dough logs can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to two months. Thaw in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours before slicing.
Instructions
- Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together in bowl. In second bowl, whisk melted butter, granulated sugar, egg yolk, and peppermint extract until very smooth. Add flour mixture and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until well combined (dough will be loose). Let dough rest until firm, about 5 minutes.
- Shape dough into rough 8 by 5-inch rectangle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
- Sift espresso powder, cocoa, confectioners' sugar, and milk powder through fine-mesh strainer into medium bowl. Cut chilled dough into rough ¾-inch pieces. Add to espresso-cocoa mixture and toss until pieces are evenly coated. Transfer pieces to counter, shaking excess espresso-cocoa mixture back into bowl (do not discard). Divide dough pieces into 2 piles.
- Working with 1 pile, firmly squeeze one-quarter of pieces together to form dough ball with streaks of espresso mixture throughout (do not knead dough). Repeat with remaining three-quarters of dough to form 3 more balls. Squeeze and press dough balls together to form rough 8-inch log. Continue to shape and roll log until 1½ inches in diameter and about 9 inches long. Flatten log slightly on 2 sides, until it is 1 inch tall and has oval shape. Repeat with remaining dough pile to form second log.
- Transfer reserved espresso-cocoa mixture to counter and roll logs in mixture to coat evenly. Wrap logs tightly in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Slice logs into ¼-inch-thick ovals and space 1 inch apart on prepared sheets. Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until puffed and tops look dry but centers are still very soft, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking.
- Let cookies cool on sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Serve. (Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 10 days.)
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