Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 5 drops red food coloring
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup finely crushed peppermint candy canes
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup coarsely chopped peppermint candy canes
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C) and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
- Cream butter or margarine and sugar. Beat in egg, peppermint extract and food coloring. Add flour and salt till well blended. Stir in 2/3 cup finely crushed candy.
- Spread evenly into greased pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until firm.
- After removing from oven, immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips. Cover with a cookie sheet for 1 minute or until melted. Spread chocolate evenly and sprinkle with 1/3 cup coarsely chopped candy. Cool completely before cutting. Note: You can substitute plain chocolate bars. You'll need 10 - 5/8 oz. bars.
For those of you having trouble with the dough, remember that this is a sugar cookie dough. Don't try to work it like a pastry dough or a brownie. I use this variation and it never fails. Use a 10x15 jelly roll pan. Drop small spoonfuls of dough evenly across the pan until only small open spaces are left between the spoonfuls. Press everything together gently but firmly and bake for about 12 minutes. I use 2 cups of chocolate chips (which does take longer to 'set'). For a greater taste contrast, use dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet. It is easier to 'pre-cut' the bars when the chocolate is almost, but not quite, hardened. Use the blade of a pastry cutter and press down, or use a heavy-duty pizza wheel. My bars always keep a nice 'chewy 'cookie' texture for a long time - even when I shipped them to a campus and they sat in the mailroom for 3 days before being picked up. I think that must be because they are only about as thick as a cookie.