Almondsofties Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, rack in the middle position.
• Line cookie sheets with foil and spray with cooking spray. Leave little "ears" of foil sticking up on the sides, large enough to grab later.
• Unwrap squares of chocolate and break them apart. Put them in a small microwave safe bowl, melt them for 90 seconds on high. Stir them until they're smooth and set aside to cool while you mix up your cookie dough.
• Combine butter and sugars together. Beat on medium speed until smooth. (Less than a minute).
• Add baking soda and salt, resume beating on medium for another minute, or until incorporated.
• Add egg and beat on medium until the batter is smooth (another minute).
• Add the peppermint and chocolate extracts, and mix for about 30 seconds.
• Shut off the mixer and scrape the bowl. Then add melted chocolate and mix again for another minute on medium speed.
• Shut off mixer and scrape down bowl again. At low speed, mix in half of the flour. Once incorporated, mix in sour cream.
• Scrape down bowl again, add the rest of the flour and beat until fully incorporated.
• Stir bowl with a spoon a few times. Mix in pecan pieces by hand.
• Use a teaspoon to spoon the dough onto the foil-lined cookie sheets, 12 cookies to a sheet. (If dough is too sticky, chill for half an hour and try again.).
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until they rise and are firm.
• Slide the foil from the cookie sheets and onto a wire rack. Let the cookies cool on the rack while the next sheet is baking. When the next sheet is ready, pull them onto the counter/table and slide the new foil onto the rack. Keep alternating until all dough is baked.
• When all the cookies are cool, set them out on wax paper for frosting.
• FROSTING.
• Put broken chocoalte squares into a microwave safe bowl. Melt on high for 90 seconds. Stir until smooth and set aside.
• When chocolate is cool, mix in the butter. Then stir in the powdered sugar.
• Mix in the vanilla extract and the cream. Beat the frosting until it's of spreading consistency. (This is no-fail frosting, if it's too thick add more cream, too thin, add more powdered sugar).
• Frost your cookies and leave them on the waxed paper until the frosting has hardened.
• When the frosting has hardened, arrange the cookies on a pretty platter. They store well in a covered container, when separated by wax paper.
• If you don't have time to frost, coat the cookies with powdered sugar while they're still warm. Do a second sprinkling once cool.