Minty...Crunchy...Wonderful

I like peppermint a lot...especially in the wintertime. A peppermint mocha around the holidays is one of my greatest indulgences. These cookies looked like a great way to enjoy peppermint with coffee at home.

Peppermint-Twist Biscotti
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup coarsely chopped peppermint candy canes or peppermint candies
Red past food coloring
1 recipe Peppermint Icing
Chopped peppermint candy canes (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a cookie sheet with foil; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and peppermint extract until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour and the 1 cup chopped candy canes.
2. Divide dough in half. Tint one portion of the dough with red paste food coloring. Divide each half of dough into three portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 14-inch-long rope. On prepared cookie sheet, place a rope of each color side by side. Twist pairs of ropes around each other several times. Flatten twists until 2 inches wide; place about 4 inches wide; place about 4 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown and tops are cracked. Cool completely on cookie sheet on a wire rack. Carefully peel foil away from twists.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 300F. Transfer twists to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut twists diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn slices over. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes more or until slices are dry. Transfer biscotti to a wire rack and let cool.
5. Drizzle cooled cookies with Peppermint Icing. If desired, sprinkle with additional chopped candy canes. Let stand until set.

Peppermint Icing:In a medium bowl stir together 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp peppermint schnapps (or use 1 Tbsp milk and 1/4 tsp peppermint extract) until smooth. Add enough addtional milk (about 2 Tbsp) to an icing of drizzling consistency.

Makes 72 cookies.

The ingredients.

I didn't have red paste food coloring. I did have some regular liquid red food coloring so I decided to go ahead use that. I ended up getting a little overzealous so I had a very red section of dough.

The dough twist even looked great good before it was baked.

Baked twists.

The cut up twists made some very pretty designs. Before sticking them back in the oven, I tried the cookies and thought that it was going to be too heavy on the peppermint. I thought about nixing the peppermint icing and melting some white chocolate instead. After the second baking, though the peppermint mellowed and I decided to proceed as planned.

The final product: delicious. I couldn't get enough of these. They were awesome paired with ice cream and even better with coffee. If you like peppermint then I would definitely recommend making these very soon.