Cookies:
1-3/4 C flour
1/2 C cocoa powder
1/4 t salt
1 C sugar
3/4 C butter, room temperature
1 egg
Filling:
1 C plus 2 T powdered sugar
3/4 C butter, room temperature
3/4 t peppermint extract
Optional: 2 drops red food coloring
1/2 C crushed candy canes or peppermint candies (about 4 oz)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine the flour, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg. Mix in the dry ingredients. Refrigerate the dough for an hour.
Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease them. Roll the dough into small balls and place them on the baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Use a glass to flatten each ball to a 2-inch round (the edges will crack, but that’s OK; it looks pretty). Bake for about 11 minutes — until they no longer look wet, and if you touch one with your finger, a small indentation occurs. Don’t overbake them, or they’ll be too crunchy.
Cool cookies well before filling.
For filling: Beat powdered sugar and butter with an electric mixer until well-blended. Add the peppermint extract (and food coloring, if desired). Spread 2 t filling evenly over the flat side of a cookie, making sure you get it all the way to the edges. Press a second cookie on top. Turn cookie on its side and roll in crushed peppermint candies.
Clipped from a 2005 Bon Appetit magazine.