Lemonade Soul: Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies

Martha Stewart has her ups and downs. Pros: her recipes produce great-tasting results. Cons: they are very complicated.

Needless to say, I tried a certain cookie recipe from, you guessed it, Martha Stewart. Basically, the spawn of Thin Mints and white chocolate. The recipe can be found on her website or in the December 2008 Martha Stewart Living magazine, but since I'm too lazy to post a link, I'll just post the whole recipe - at least the way I made it - instead! :)

Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies

*REQUIRES SOFTENED BUTTER
**REQUIRES CHILLING TIME, SEE BOLD
(Now, at the beginning of all my posted recipes, you'll see warnings, like above, because if you're like me and you just "skim" the recipe, you're going to end up short on time and come late to a Christmas party or something. So now, you can still skim as long as you pay attention to the pre-notes.)

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoonms unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
8 large candy canes or 30 peppermint candies, crushed (I used candy canes)
2 pounds white chocolate, coarsely chopped (or white chocolate
chips/morsels)

1. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, then egg yolk, beating well after each addition. Beat in peppermint extract. Slowly add flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated. Shape dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days).
2. Roll out 1 disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Using a 2-inch round cutter (or in my case, the lid of a water bottle), cut out circles, and place 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Roll and cut scraps once. Freeze cookies until firm, about 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining disk.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Bake until cookies are dry to the touch, about 12 minutes. Transfer parchment, with cookies, to wire racks, and let cool. (Undecorated cookies will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.)
4. Sift crushed candy, and separate larger pieces from dust, reserving both. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water. Remove from heat. Dunk cookies into melted chocolate. Using a fork (or wooden toast tongs), turn to coat, let excess drip off, and gently scrape bottom against edge of bowl. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets (you can reuse the parchment from before for this), and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of either candy pieces or dust on top. Repeat, sprinkling half the cookies with pieces and the rest with dust. Refrigerate until set, up to 3 hours. (You can also freeze for about 20 minutes.) Decorated cookies are best served the same day.

Now, to break it down:

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.