Great Cookie Competition: Chocolate Peppermint Slices

This recipe came from a British dessert cookbook, "Cakes and Bakes" from Parragon Publishing, 2007. The flavors were delicious, but the execution left something to be desired. My modifications to the recipe and my questions about what went wrong appear in brackets.

Here is the recipe:

4 tbsp. butter, plus extra for greasing
1/4 superfine sugar
3/4 all purpose flour
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
6 oz semisweet chocolate
1-2 tbsp warm water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line an 8 x 12 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper. [I didn't have an 8 x 12 inch pan, so I used an 8 x 8. The base was still much too small to cover the surface area of the pan. Hmm. Suspicious]. Whisk the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. [Could it really mean whisk? I used a mixer]. Stir in the flour until the mixture binds together. [The mixture would not bind together, so I heated up the butter and used a little water].

Knead the the mixture to form a smooth dough, then press into the prepared pan. [Knead? Not so much. I did my best to squash the mixture together, relying mostly on the heat from my hands, then squashed it into the pan. Squashed. That's an industry term]. Prick the surface all over with a fork. Bake the base in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned and just firm to the touch. Let cool in the pan.

Stir the confectioners' sugar into a bowl. Gradually add the water, then add the peppermint extract. [I added a few drops of green food coloring and some vanilla extract. You can never have too much vanilla!] Spread the frosting over the base, then let set.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over gently simmering water, then spread over the peppermint frosting. Let set, then cut into slices.


The recipe turned out delicious, but the base was more like a cracker than a cookie and there wasn't enough of it to fill the pan. Any thoughts on what I could do differently?


(Image of what I WISH my cookies looked like reproduced without permission from Auntyyochana.blogspot.com).