Servings: 1DOZEN 2 1/2 INCH COOKIES OR 18 SMALLER COOKIES
Author: Pamela
Ingredients
½cupunsweetened cocoa powder or cacao powder
¾cuporganic cane sugar or coconut sugar
¼cupunrefinedcold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
2large eggs
2teaspoonspure vanilla extract
⅛teaspoonpeppermint extract
1cupall-purpose flourspelt flour or gluten-free flour blend
1teaspoonaluminum-free baking powder
½teaspoonsea salt
¼cuppowdered sugaraka confectioner’s sugar, sifted if clumpy
Instructions
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and cane sugar. Add the olive oil and whisk until it forms a thick paste. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla and peppermint extract.
In another medium-large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir the flour mix into the wet cocoa-sugar mixture until just combined and no dry flour is visible. Try not to overmix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough until chilled, 4 hours to overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a half sheet pan with unbleached parchment paper (use two sheet pans if you plan to make smaller cookies). Scoop 1 Tablespoon size balls of dough for small cookies or 2 Tablespoon size balls of dough for larger cookies. The dough will be slightly sticky. I recommend using a swing arm ice cream scoop for this. You can place the cookie dough balls on the sheet pan in the meantime. Be careful as they may stick to the parchment.
Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Take a ball of dough and roll it in the sugar, one at a time, coating well all sides and place back on the prepared baking sheet(s). Repeat with remaining cookie dough balls.
Bake small cookies for 10-12 minutes and larger cookies for 12-14 minutes, until the center of each cookie is just starting to set. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will firm up slightly as they cool.
Notes
You can add a candy cane Hershey kiss pressed in the center of each cookie after they come out of the oven. Might be fun to mix crushed freeze-dried strawberries with the powdered sugar for a more festive look.