PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE STARS

Today it’s the coldest day so far this year, about -16 degrees to be exact. That means a really cold nose as soon you step outside, but the air is incredible crisp and the sun is shining so I can’t really complain.

So, this recipe is a good one; its a cross between a brownie and a cookie with candy canes to top it off. Perfect for those candy canes laying around since Christmas. They taste a bit like hot cocoa with candy canes – oh, just the thought of them makes me weak at my knees.

Ingredients;
1,5 cups flour

0,5 cup cacao powder of good quality
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
100 g salted butter, room tempered
1 cup sugar
1 egg
0,5 tsp cinnamon 

And for the topping;
2 cups icing sugar
2 tbs water
1-2 drops food coloring
Handful candy canes

Do this;
Start off by mixing all your dry ingredients together making sure all is well combined. Then creme together the sugar and butter before cracking in the egg and whisking it in for about 1 min. Then, with a spatula, add in the dry ingredients folding it into the butter-mixture making sure there are no lumps.

Wrap it in cling film before putting it into the fridge for least 1 hour to firm up (the mixture is really sticky, but after a while in the fridge it will firm up making it easier to roll out).

 

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
Line a baking tray with baking paper (or if you like me forgot to buy some, a bit of oil with lightly dusted flour on top works just fine). On a flour-dusted surface start rolling out the dough, about 5 mm thick. To prevent it from sticking you’ll need to dust both the table, the dough and your rolling pin with flour and then keep turning it to dust it some more. Cut out small stars with cookie cutters, put them on the baking tray and then before baking them in the oven freeze them for about 5 min, this will help them keep their shape better in the oven.

 

Bake them for about 10-15 min, depending on the size of the stars. They are finished when they have started to dry up on the surface, got a bit golden on the edges but still a bit soft in the middle. Let them cool down 5 min on the baking tray before carefully moving them (try using a spatula if they are still a bit soft) to a cooling rack where they need to cool down completely.

For decoration smash up some candy canes in a plastic bag with your rolling pin, then mix the icing sugar with the water a bit at the time until smooth. Color it with some food coloring and put it in a piping bag. Pipe the icing in a zig-zag pattern and while its still wet sprinkle over the candy canes, let everything set up and then serve with a big glass of milk.