These adorable chocolate candy cane cookie sandwiches are the perfect Christmas sweet treat. To make them, you take two fudgy chocolate cookies and sandwich them together with a candy cane flecked peppermint filling. They make the perfect festive gift and are a great addition to your Christmas party menu!
One of the things I love to do it bake for others. This, in part, is why I think I have always been a big fan of giving food as gifts and Christmas is no exception! These cookies make a great a gift – they are easy to make in large quantities, can be easily packed into jars or gift boxes and importantly, taste amazing!
These chocolate candy cane cookie sandwiches are made up of two components. The first are chocolate cookies that are almost brownie-like in texture thanks to the addition of cocoa powder, melted dark chocolate and dark chocolate chips. The second is a peppermint flavoured icing to which you add crushed candy canes for extra peppermint flavour and added crunch. The combination of the fudgy chocolate cookie, cool peppermint icing and crunch of the candy canes is an absolute winner!
Why you will LOVE these Chocolate Candy Cane Cookie Sandwiches
- They are quick and easy to make: The cookies are very straightforward and quick to make and only require 10 minutes chilling time before baking. The icing is even easier to make – you simply mix sifted icing sugar with hot water before adding peppermint extract and crushed candy canes.
- No candy canes? No problem! Don’t have any spare candy canes lying around? You can just add peppermint extract to the icing and if you want, you can swirl a couple of drops of red food colouring through the icing to create a candy cane effect.
- The whole family will love these cookies: These cookies are a hit with kids and adults – trust me!
What you will need
Equipment
- You will need a stand mixer or electric beaters for this recipe.
Ingredients
Cookies
- Dark chocolate: The chocolate is melted before it is added to the cookie dough. You can use any good quality dark chocolate you like.
- Plain (all-purpose) flour: You will need to sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, cornflour and salt before using.
- Baking powder and baking (bicarbonate of) soda: The combination of these two raising agents give the cookies lift and help make them soft inside.
- Cocoa powder: I prefer to use dutch-processed cocoa powder (or alkalised cocoa) as it has a smoother flavour.
- Cornflour (Cornstarch): The cornflour helps to make these cookies soft and tender on the inside.
- Salt: A touch of salt enhances the flavour of the cookies. It also balances out the sweetness.
- Unsalted butter: The butter needs to be room temperature before you begin.
- Sugar: The recipe uses light brown sugar as it makes these cookies soft and fudgy. If you don’t have any brown sugar, you can substitute white granulated sugar or caster (superfine) sugar but just be aware that it may affect the texture of the cookie.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla enhances the flavour of the cookie dough.
- Egg: Like the butter, the egg should be at room temperature.
- Chocolate chips: I like to use dark chocolate chips as I find it balances out the sweetness of the peppermint icing. It comes down to personal preference though so feel free to substitute milk chocolate chips or even white chocolate chips!
Peppermint Icing
- Icing (confectioners’) sugar: I like to use soft icing mixture (rather than pure icing sugar) as it results in a softer setting icing. This makes it easier when assembling the cookie sandwiches as the icing doesn’t set too quickly.
- Hot water: We add a small amount of hot water to the sifted icing sugar until we get the icing consistency we are looking for – it should be spreadable but not runny.
- Peppermint Extract: You can usually find peppermint extract where you find vanilla extract in the supermarket. It is quite strong so you won’t need much. As with all flavourings it is advisable to add a little at a time until you achieve the flavour you want.
- Candy canes: It probably goes without saying that you really should use the peppermint flavoured candy canes as opposed to the fruit flavoured ones (which are usually multi-coloured). I find it easiest to crush the candy canes in a mortar and pestle but if you don’t have one you can place the candy canes in a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin or mallet to crush them.
How to make my Chocolate Candy Cane Cookie Sandwiches
- Melt the dark chocolate, set aside to cool.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, cornflour and salt.
- Cream the butter and sugar.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
- Mix in the sifted flour mixture and melted chocolate.
- Add the chocolate chips.
- Roll heaped tablespoons of cookie dough into balls and place on lined baking trays.
- Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until slightly crackled on top.
- Cool cookies briefly on trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the peppermint icing. Spread icing on the flat side of half of the cookies. Top each cookie with one of the remaining cookies to make a cookie sandwich.
- Enjoy!
If you loved this recipe, try this…
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Chocolate Candy Cane Cookie Sandwiches
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes (plus cooling and assembly time)
- Yield: 20 1x
- Category: Cookies
Description
These adorable chocolate candy cane cookie sandwiches are the perfect Christmas sweet treat. To make them, you take two fudgy chocolate cookies and sandwich them together with a candy cane flecked peppermint icing. They make the perfect festive gift and are a great addition to your Christmas party menu!
Ingredients
Scale
Chocolate Cookies
- 150g dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 & 1/4 cup (185g) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking (bicarbonate of) soda
- 1/4 cup (30g) dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 180g dark chocolate chips
Peppermint Icing
- 120g peppermint candy canes
- 1 & 1/2 cups (195g) icing (confectioners’) sugar
- 1 – 2 tablespoons hot water
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or to taste)
Instructions
Chocolate Cookies
- Preheat oven to 180C conventional or 160C fan-forced. Line two baking trays with baking (greaseproof) paper.
- In a heatproof bowl, heat the dark chocolate in the microwave using 30 second bursts until just melted. Remove from the microwave and stir to allow the residual heat to finish melting the chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, cornflour and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl if using electric beaters) combine butter and sugar and beat until creamy. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract to the combined butter and sugar. Beat until combined.
- Add the sifted flour mixture and melted chocolate and on low speed, mix until just combined.
- If using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, add the chocolate chips and mix until the chips are evenly distributed (be careful not to over mix). If using electric beaters, switch to a spatula and fold the chocolate chips into the mixture.
- Chill the cookie dough in the fridge for 10 minutes (see note 1).
- Remove from fridge and roll heaped teaspoons of the cookie dough into balls (see note 2) and place on lined baking trays, leaving space in between (approximately 5 centimetres/2 inches) to allow the cookies to spread.
- Using the heel of your hand, flatten each ball of cookie dough slightly.
- Place in the preheated oven (see note 3) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until slightly crackled on top. If you want to make the cookies look more uniform, carefully use a wide offset spatula to flatten the cookies slightly as soon as they come out of the oven.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. They will be very soft straight out of the oven but will firm up upon cooling.
Peppermint Icing
- In mortar and pestle (or using a rolling pin), crush the candy canes until you have a mixture of fine candy cane dust and small chunks of candy cane pieces. Set aside.
- Sift the icing sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Starting with a teaspoon at a time, add the hot water to the icing sugar until you get a paste-like consistency that is spreadable but not runny. Stir in the peppermint extract and crushed candy canes.
Assembling the cookie sandwiches
- On a clean surface, place half of the cookies flat-side up. Using a teaspoon or small offset spatula, spread the icing on the cookies. Sandwich with the remaining cookies.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Portioning out the cookie dough: I use a small sized cookie scoop (2 teaspoons) to portion out my cookie dough as I find it the easiest way to guarantee even sized cookies!
- Oven rack position: Position the top oven rack in the middle of the oven. If you need to use the rack below for the second baking tray then swap trays around halfway through the baking time.
- Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Keywords: Cookies, Chocolate, Candy Canes, Peppermint
This looks like a yummy and colourful Xmas treat
to make and to share with friends and family!!
Will definitely make batches of them for my upcoming Xmas dinner party !