Michelle’s Peppermint Snowball Cookies and More Treats

It’s a 20-year family favorite Chef and Cookbook Author Michelle DuDash. In our kitchen today, she shows us how to make two of her and her guests’ holiday favorites: Peppermint Snowball Cookies and Peanut Brittle Bars.

For Christmas, Michelle adds peppermint extract to the dough for holiday flair. Add half peppermint extract, half vanilla extract when whipping the butter. Toast the pecans (or use walnuts) to deepen the nuttiness.

Also during Christmas, Michelle adds green and red sprinkles to the dusting powdered sugar.

Another one of Michelle’s favorites, from her cookbook, is her Peanut Brittle Cookie Bars with Dark Chocolate Drizzle. These get devoured at every gathering. Part cookie, part candy, you won’t want to eat just one.

Today’s Snowball Cookie recipe is posted on dishwithdudash.com/.

Peanut Brittle Cookie Bars with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

By Michelle Dudash, from Clean Eating for Busy Families

Part candy, part cookie, these bars are so delicious you won’t want to eat just one. You can play around with other nuts in this recipe, such as almonds, pistachios, and pecans.

For the crust:
1¼ cups (105 g) fine whole-grain graham cracker crumbs (about 12 squares)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) expeller-pressed grapeseed or canola oil
2 tablespoons (40 g) honey

For the filling:
1/ 3 cup (115 g) honey
¼ cup (60 g) packed light brown sugar
1/ 8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons (42 g) cold butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon (15 ml) coconut milk or heavy whipping cream
2 cups (290 g) unsalted dry roasted peanuts

For the chocolate drizzle:
1/ 3 cup (58 g) dark or semisweet chocolate chips

Total Prep and Cook Time: 35 minutes, plus cooling • Yield: 16 bars, 1 each

Per serving: 240 calories; 16 g total fat; 4 g saturated fat; 5 g protein; 22 g carbohydrate; 2 g dietary fiber; 6 mg cholesterol.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC, or gas mark 4) and generously coat a 9 x 9-inch (23 x 23 cm) baking pan with canola oil spray.

To Make the Crust: Whir the graham crackers in a food processor until they are the consistency of fine crumbs and with the motor running, drizzle in the oil and honey. Spread mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan and press it firmly with your hands. Bake for 12 minutes until fragrant and surface appears dry. Cool for at least a few minutes.

To Make the Filling: Increase oven temperature to 375ºF (190ºC, or gas mark 5). Bring honey, sugar, and salt to a boil in a medium pot over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves, and then boil for 2 minutes without stirring. Add butter and coconut milk and boil for 1 minute, stirring. Remove from heat and fold in the peanuts, coating them completely. Spread peanuts evenly over the crust and bake until bubbly and golden, about 16 minutes. Cool completely.

To Make the Chocolate Drizzle: Microwave the chocolate chips in a bowl, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Dip a fork into the chocolate and with a flick of your wrist, splatter the chocolate over the peanuts in a diagonal pattern. Cool and cut into 16 rectangular or diamond shaped bars.
Go Clean

The darker the chocolate, the higher the percentage of cocoa, which usually means more antioxidant-rich polyphenols. Also, dark chocolate usually contains less added sugar.

To learn more, visit dishwithdudash.com/.