Holiday Leftovers: Oreo Peppermint Bark Cookies
Well, Christmas is officially over (insert sad face). If it were up to me, we’d keep a Christmas Tree up all year and I’d justify making hot toddies nightly. I spent the holidays here in sunny San Diego with family and friends. I’m beyond excited about my new Nespresso Coffee maker… I now consider myself a professional barista and am averaging about 4 cups a day! Now that I’m all jacked up on caffeine, I can get down to serious baking business. One of my favorite things to do is cram as much leftover candy as possible into a recipe. Mainly because I need to get it out of the house and if I make cookies, I have an excuse to give them away as late gifts!
I came up with these Oreo Peppermint Bark Cookies the other day and they actually turned out better than expected! I’m not a huge fan of candy canes, I definitely like the way they look more than they taste. Instead of throwing them away when you’re taking your Christmas Tree down, you can repurpose them into cookies! If you don’t have candy canes and still want to make the recipe, grab a bag of dinner mints (or just stock up when you’re leaving a restaurant)!
Here’s what you’ll need:
– 6 Candy Canes (crushed into small chunks and powder)
– 1 Cup Oreo Chunks
– 1/2 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips
– 1/2 Cup White Chocolate Chips
– 1 Box White Cake Mix
– 1 Egg
– 1 Stick of Butter (softened)
– 4 ounce package of Cream Cheese (softened)
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
Pre Heat your oven to 350 F.
To crush the Candy Canes, you can either put them into a food processor or just pop them into a plastic bag and crush them with a bottle or something hard. I think the recipe works best with small chunks and powder. Do the same to make Oreo chunks.
Mix the Cake Mix, Egg, Butter, Cream Cheese & Vanilla in a large bowl. Once mixed, slowly add the Milk & White Chocolate Chips, Candy Canes & Oreo Chunks. Be sure not to over mix.
You can either put the dough into muffin tins or refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes and roll it into balls. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on whether you like your cookies soft or crisp.