Decadent Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies — The Taste of a New Year’s Table Worth Coming Back To

New Year's 2025. The annual tradition continues in this kitchen that has held every holiday since I started cooking through cancer and came out the other side with a cast iron skillet and a refusal to stop. I am 42 and New Year's means what it has always meant: too much food, the right people, and the gratitude spoken aloud because life taught me that gratitude unspoken is gratitude wasted.

The table is full. Mason (14) and Lily (12) are here, growing taller and more themselves with each passing year. Tom is here, beside me, where he has been since the day he showed up with wildflowers and patience and the quiet understanding that love is not a grand gesture but a daily one.

Brett is here — always here, every holiday, every Wednesday, the constant brother in the wheelchair who has been my anchor since we were children on a ranch that no longer exists. Kyle calls from wherever the Army has him, and his voice on the phone is the voice of the brother who left and came back and left again, and the leaving and returning is the rhythm of this family.

I made hot chocolate this week, because New Year's demands the food that says: I am here, you are here, we are together, and together is the only word that matters. The recipe is the same as last year and the year before and all the years stretching back to the ranch kitchen where Diane stood at 6 AM making cinnamon rolls for a family that ate them without knowing they were eating love. I know now. I've always known. And I make the food and serve it and watch my family eat and think: this. This is why I survived. For this table. For this food. For these people. For this.

The hot chocolate was already made, already drunk, already warming everyone from the inside out — but New Year’s at this table has never stopped at just one thing. These double chocolate peppermint cookies have become the companion to that mug, the thing I set out while we’re still in our pajamas and the house still smells like last night’s celebration. Peppermint and dark chocolate taste like the turn of a year to me now — like Brett laughing too loud and Mason stealing a third cookie and Tom catching my eye across the table with that look that means he sees it too, all of it, the beauty of this ordinary and extraordinary life. If gratitude unspoken is gratitude wasted, then this is how I speak it: I bake, I put it on the table, and I let the food say what I never quite have enough words for.

Decadent Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 32 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup crushed candy canes or peppermint candies

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.
3. Cream the butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and extracts. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract and peppermint extract.
5. Combine wet and dry. With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until just combined. Do not overmix.
6. Fold in the mix-ins. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of the crushed peppermint, reserving the remaining peppermint for topping.
7. Scoop and top. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Press a pinch of the reserved crushed peppermint onto the top of each cookie.
8. Bake. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are set but the centers still look slightly soft. They will firm up as they cool.
9. Cool. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 215 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 29g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 98mg