Fifteen ingredients and about an hour, including cooling and decorating.
Nothing in this cookie is coffee-flavoured icing or syrup. A teaspoon of instant espresso powder goes into the dry ingredients, which is where the mocha in the name comes from.
Why This Recipe Works
- Espresso powder whisked with the cocoa deepens the chocolate without tasting like coffee.
- Both sugars together give a cookie that spreads a little and crinkles on top.
- A quarter teaspoon of peppermint extract flavours the dough without overwhelming the cocoa.
- Mixing only until combined keeps the crumb soft rather than tough.
- Decorating while the white chocolate is still wet fixes the candy and sugar in place.
Ingredient Notes
- Instant espresso powder
- One teaspoon, whisked into the dry ingredients. This is the mocha element.
- Peppermint extract
- A quarter teaspoon in the dough, with crushed candy on top later for the second hit.
- White chocolate, two portions
- Four ounces melted for dipping, plus an ounce tinted red and melted for the narrow stripes.
- Crushed peppermint candy and pink sanding sugar
- Two tablespoons and one tablespoon, added while the coating is wet so they stick.
How to Make It
Oven at 350°F and two sheets lined
Heat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets.
Dry whisked with espresso; butter, sugars, egg and extracts
Whisk the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda and salt. Beat the butter with both sugars, then mix in the egg, vanilla and peppermint extract.
Dry into wet, eighteen portions scooped and flattened
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet just until combined. Scoop 18 portions and flatten them slightly.
Baked until edges set and tops crinkled, then cooled
Bake 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops are crinkled. Cool completely.
Half-dipped, striped red, then candy and sanding sugar
Dip half of each cookie in white chocolate. Drizzle narrow red stripes over the white coating, then add crushed peppermint candy and pink sanding sugar before the chocolate sets.
Success Tips
- Crush the peppermint candy finely, or the pieces slide off the dipped coating.
- Cool the cookies completely before dipping; a warm cookie melts the coating thin.
- Work on two or three cookies at a time so the stripes go on while the white chocolate is wet.
Serving Ideas
Eighteen dark cocoa cookies with crinkled tops, each dipped halfway in white chocolate, striped in red and scattered with crushed peppermint candy and pink sanding sugar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the mocha in these cookies?
It is a teaspoon of instant espresso powder in the dough, whisked in with the cocoa.
Are the green-drizzled cookies part of this recipe?
No. The recipe is the white-chocolate-dipped cookie with red stripes. The other cookies and the props alongside are not part of it.
When should the candy go on?
Straight after the red stripes, while the white chocolate is still soft, so the candy and sugar set into it.
