Bites from other Blogs

Christmas is closing, with just a few more weeks of December to go, and holiday flavors are everywhere. One standout is peppermint, which is closely associated with Christmas because people never seem to get tired of peppermint candy canes, and I’ve seen lots and lots of delicious-sounding peppermint recipes appearing on the blogs.

• Sally’s Baking Addiction turned a holiday coffee shop favorite into dessert, in a batch of Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes. The rich chocolate cupcakes are spiked with a little bit of instant coffee and peppermint extract to infuse them with a peppermint mocha taste. They’re topped with a peppermint buttercream that highlights the mint in the cake, then are garnished with crushed peppermint and chocolate. Serve these with a real peppermint mocha for a holiday dessert that will be hard to beat.
• Just because the weather is colder doesn’t mean that you have to skip ice cream. After all, it’s still warn enough inside to enjoy these Gingersnap Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches from A Couple Cooks without catching a chill. The ice cream sandwiches are filled with a homemade coconut and peppermint ice cream that is smooth and refreshing – and a nice contrast to the spicy gingerbread cookies that sandwich that filling. Make sure you start with soft gingerbread cookies, rather than hard gingersnaps, or you might have some difficulty eating your ice cream sandwich without getting crumbs all over!
• The Peppermint and Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cooking and Beer offer a surprisingly simple peppermint treat. You might not expect sweet and spicy Biscoff spread to go well with peppermint, but much like gingerbread and peppermint, it is a combination that really works! These cookies are made with peppermint baking chips, which have a smooth and creamy consistency when they are baked into cookies, unlike crunchy crushed peppermint alone. They also add just the right hint of peppermint without dominating the flavor of the Biscoff.
• You can’t miss Elephant Eats‘ Peppermint White Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bars, because these red and white swirled bars are bright enough to catch your eye from across the room. The cheesecake bars start with a chocolate crumb crust that is topped with a decadent sour cream cheesecake. Part of the cheesecake batter has melted white chocolate chips, peppermint and red food coloring added to it, then is swirled in to the rest of the batter to give the cheesecake its beautiful, fun finished look.
• The Chocolate Donuts with Chocolate Peppermint Glaze from Peaches & Cream are a decadent way to start off a winter morning. The chocolate donuts are baked – not fried – and are finished with a chocolate glaze that is kissed with peppermint. The finishing touch is that the glaze is generously sprinkled with finely crushed peppermint, which not only brings a little extra peppermint to all that chocolate, but gives the donuts a beautiful finished look.