Cookies, Cookies and Candy Part 1

I get tired of making the same old cookies every Christmas, so I decided to try some new to us recipes.  After all, I am not old and set in my ways, right?  (I am going to keep telling myself that and maybe, just maybe, I might begin to believe it)

 My first experiment was White Chocolate Peppermint Brittle Cookies.  It sounded pretty simple and straight forward.  It was essentially a shortbread filled with white chocolate chips and crushed peppermint bits, patted as thin as possible, given that is was filled with chips.  Then it was baked into a crisp single cookie.  After the cookie cooled it would be drizzled with melted white chocolate and sprinkled with more crushed peppermint bits, then broken into cookie bark pieces.

                       White Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Brittle

Here's the recipe

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

10 ounces white chocolate, chopped or 1 3/4 cups white chocolate chips (both divided)

3/4 cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy (divided)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Line large baking sheet with parchment and set aside

In a mixing bowl whisk the flour, baking soda and salt.  In another large bowl add the melted butter and both sugars and vanilla.  Stir until very smooth.  Stir in the flour mixture until just blended in.  Stir in 1 cup of chopped white chocolate or real white chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy.

Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet and press the dough into a 14 X 8 ish rectangle.  Bake until the top is firm and dark golden.  Cool completely.  Melt the remaining white chocolate and drizzle it from the tines of a fork all over the cookie.  Then sprinkle the remaining peppermint bits over the damp chocolate.  Let dry at least 1 hour, until the chocolate is nice and hard.  Break into irregular pieces and enjoy.

Hmmmmm, not sure how to begin the critique of this.  I may or may not try it again just to see if I can improve on it.  Since the predominant flavors should be white chocolate and peppermint, I am not sure why the recipe included brown sugar.  The brown sugar tasted caramelish after the long cook time and played against the cookie's theme.  Also because you are supposed to bake the cookie until it is dark golden, the white chocolate chips begin to caramelize, so why even bother with them. Then, when you break the cookie pieces the heat from your hands causes the drizzled white chocolate to melt...big mess.

My solutions would be to omit the brown sugar and add 1/3 cup additional white sugar, then nix the chips in the cookie and leave out the peppermint pieces. Change the extract from just vanilla to 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract.  After patting the dough on the baking sheet, score break lines so you won't have to handle the white chocolate as much after it bakes.  When it comes out of the oven and is still soft go ahead and cut the pieces but do not separate them, then drizzle the white chocolate and dust with the peppermint bits. (I think I would almost have the peppermints crushed into a semi fine powder)

To be honest the jury is still out about trying these again or not. Right now I am leaning toward not.