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Cocoa cookie drizzled with bittersweet and white chocolates and topped with crushed candy canes

Cocoa Peppermint Cookie Bark

Closely adapted from Alice Medrich
Course Dessert
Cuisine Cookies
Keyword Christmas, mint
Author TheSpicedLife

Ingredients

For cookie base:

  • 4 T unsalted butter, melted and still warm
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
  • 1/8 t salt
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 4 t (1 T plus 1 t) AP flour

For topping:

  • 1.5 oz bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
  • 1.5 oz white chocolate finely chopped
  • 1 T unsalted butter (optional, see instructions)
  • 1/3 cup crushed candy canes or hard peppermint candies

Instructions

Make the cookie base:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 rimmed half sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In another medium bowl, whisk the melted butter with the sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Add the egg whites and whisk until smooth, then whisk in the flour.
  3. Pour half of the batter onto each cookie sheet. Using an offset spatula, smooth the batter out to cover most of the cookie sheets, keeping the batter as even as possible to ensure even baking.
  4. I baked both sheets at the same time, but I have a convection oven. If you do not, bake the sheets one at a time on the center rack, rotating the pan halfway through the baking.
  5. Bake for 11-13 minutes, until the cookie darkens and looks set. Repeat with other cookie sheet.
  6. Let cool completely.

Make the topping:

  1. Melt the chocolates (separately). I always use the microwave, in 20-30 second increments at 40-50% power. Sometimes high quality white chocolate can be very thick--if this happens, add a tablespoon of butter to loosen it a bit. In both cases, mix until smooth.
  2. Drizzle the bittersweet chocolate all over both cookies. Then repeat with the white chocolate--once again, if the white chocolate is a little stiff, put it in a plastic baggie, snip one corner off the bag, and squeeze it to drizzle. Be careful not to squeeze too hard or you will end up with a blob of white chocolate, which did happen to me!
  3. Immediately, before the chocolates set, sprinkle the crushed candy canes over the 2 cookies.
  4. Place the cookie sheets in a fridge (or cold garage) for 10 minutes to set the chocolate. Then break into small pieces.
  5. If, as happened to me, it turns out parts of the cookie are underbaked, put it back into a 200 F oven for 15 minutes at a time, then allow to cool completely, and then recheck for crispness. Repeat if necessary. I had to do it twice, but because it was mostly hands-off, it was not a big deal.