Peppermint Sugar Cookies

I did it! And it worked just as well as I thought it would. I was in Starbucks over the weekend, ordering a coffee with the Engineer, and on a whim decided this was the perfect time. So after we had ordered, I looked at the person taking my order and said I would like to pay for the person behind me. My Engineer looked and me and said, "What?!". The guy behind me ordered two Grande double-shot lattes and I paid for all of our coffees. The guy behind us was totally unaware that he had just received free coffees from us. As we waited for our drinks the man behind me came up to us and said, "Excuse me, but did you just pay for me?". I replied that I had. But, at this point I wasn't too sure that my social experiment had worked out. He looked kind of mad. Then he said, "Wow, that is amazing, I can't believe you just did that!" and he smiled. This made me feel awesome. So sincerely awesome.

As we left the Starbucks the guy said thanks again, and told us he would never forget us. I kind of laughed at this, but I can honestly say that I smiled for the rest of the day. As we were driving away, I looked at the Engineer and told him that I was really glad that I had done that and that now I was getting into the Christmas spirit. I also said that I hoped this made the random guy want to do something nice for someone else, and so on. My Engineer laughed at this: apparently there is a movie about this? It's called Pay it Forward or something? I honestly hadn't heard of it (do I live under a rock!?). Needless to say, my holiday random act of kindness has now got me majorly into the Christmas mood.

More Christmas cookies anyone? Yes, please.

Blank canvas. How do you decorate?

Drying is the worst part. It's ok to sample them at this point though.

The pretty ones get packaged and shipped off to good homes.

 

Don't worry, I still love the broken ones!

Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Makes 36 cookies

Cookies:
2/3 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp peppermint flavour extract
2/3 cup brown rice flour

2/3 cup sorghum flour

2/3 cup arrowroot starch
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt

Icing:
1/2 cup icing sugar

1-2 tsp peppermint flavour extract

2-3 tbsp milk

Milk chocolate chips, for decorating

Directions:
1. In large bowl, beat coconut oil with coconut sugar until fluffy; beat in egg, vanilla and peppermint. In separate bowl, whisk together flours and starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt ; stir into coconut oil and sugar mixture in three additions. Divide in half; shape into discs. Wrap each and refrigerate for at least an hour.
2. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Between waxed paper, roll out each disc to scant 1/4-inch (5 mm) thickness. Using your favourite cookie cutter shape, cut out shapes, re-rolling scraps. Place cookie cut-outs on the prepared baking sheets and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
3. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Bake in top and bottom thirds of your oven, rotating and switching pans halfway through for 7 to 9 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned.
4. Allow your cookies to cool completely before decorating with icing. Once cooled, mix icing sugar, peppermint flavouring and milk together in a small bowl. Decorate your cookies in whatever design you like. Top with chocolate chips. Allow the icing to set for about an hour before storing.