Candy Cane Chocolate Cookies

Soft and gooey chocolate cookies, loaded with crushed candy canes. What's not to love? These candy cane chocolate cookies are the perfect treats for Christmas! You can even gift these to your loved ones. It's a really easy recipe so let's get started. Let's talk about the ingredients first :

• Butter : I prefer using unsalted butter because it allows you to adjust the amount of salt however you like. But if you only have salted butter on hand it's completely fine just skip the 1/2 tsp of salt.

• Sugars : You need both caster sugar and brown sugar for these cookies to turn out perfect. Both sugars play an important role in not only the taste but also the texture of the cookie. I would also not recommend reducing the amount of sugar as it would change the texture.

• Eggs : This recipe calls for whole eggs plus egg yolks for that extra gooey and soft center.

• Instant coffee powder : You can leave it out if you don't like coffee but the coffee powder in this recipe is just to intensify the chocolate flavor and you cannot taste the coffee at all.

• Chocolate : Both dark and milk chocolate chips are mentioned in the recipe, but you can use only one if you like. Please use good quality chocolate chips. It makes a huge difference. If you cannot find good quality chocolate chips just chop up nice bars of dark and milk chocolate and use that instead.

Servings : 14-16

Ingredients :

• Butter - 200g

• Caster sugar - 80g

• Brown sugar - 120g

• Eggs - 80g

• Egg yolk - 20g

• Instant coffee powder - 1 tsp (optional)

• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

• Salt - 1/2 tsp

• Flour - 290g

• Cocoa powder - 30g

• Dark chocolate chips - 80g

• Milk chocolate chips - 80g

• Candy canes - 50g

• Flaky sea salt (optional)

Instructions :

1. Melt the butter until it's almost melted. It will continue to melt even after it's off the heat. Let the butter cool slightly.

2. Add the melted butter to a large mixing bowl then add in the sugars and whisk until everything is well combined.

3. Add the eggs and egg yolks in two additions whisking well in between each addition.

4. Add in the instant coffee powder and whisk again. You can also add in some peppermint extract for more flavor.

5. Now sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Fold it gently using a spatula until almost combined. It's okay if there are a few streaks of flour left. Do not overmix. Please use a kitchen scale because it gives accurate results every time. Cup measurements are highly inaccurate so I would not recommend using cups.

6. Crush the candy canes into tiny pieces using a rolling pin.

7. Add in the chocolate chips and crushed candy canes but reserve some to add on top after baking. Fold again until they are evenly distributed.

8. Scoop out 14-16 cookies using an ice cream scoop onto a plate.

9. Refrigerate the scooped dough for at least an hour or overnight. This ensures that your cookies remain soft on the inside after baking.

10. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

11. Place 8 cookies on the sheet and keep some space in between each cookie because they will spread while baking.

12. Bake for 12-15 minutes. They are going to be very soft after baking but they will harden as they cool so don't overbake them.

13. Take the cookies out of the oven and top with the reserved chocolate chips and candy canes.

14. Let them cool for about 5 mins on the baking sheet. Sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top of each cookie. It is optional but highly recommended.

15. Now place the cookies onto a cooling rack and let them cool completely before enjoying.

16. Store the cookies in an air tight container at room temperature.