Holiday Cookies at the Ritz
This time of year, The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta is all about sugar confections. Behind the scenes, Executive Pastry Chef Dallas Marsteller is baking up 17 different kinds of cookies, including the hotel’s famous Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cookies. Marsteller says she inherited the recipe, which has been a holiday tradition at the hotel for as long as anyone can remember. Guests at the hotel get to enjoy the cookies on the club level all day long, as well as at holiday brunches and the Children’s Teddy Bear Tea.
“The pastry kitchen smells wonderful,” says Marsteller. “Sometimes it seems there is an endless procession of cakes, pies, tarts and trifles that are produced in our kitchen during the holiday season. We make macaroons in many flavors — mint, lemon, strawberry, blueberry, peanut butter and chocolate — and we also do decorative items like pulled sugar designs and chocolate carvings for the holiday brunch buffet.”
But it’s the cookies that keep guests coming back. This year, Marsteller estimates they’ll serve more than 20,000 of them through Christmas Day. If you can’t make it to the Ritz yourself, then follow the recipe below and start your own holiday tradition. Cookies in bed at home sounds almost as good as a night at The Ritz.
Holiday Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cookies
The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp honey
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla or more for taste
3/4 cups cake flour
1/4 cup bread flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup crushed peppermint
3/4 cup chocolate chunks or chips
Cream together butter, sugars and honey. Add eggs slowly, then add vanilla. Add dry ingredients in three parts; mix until combined. Add peppermint and chocolate, and stir. Scoop dough with an ice cream scoop or roll into logs. Let rest for one hour in the refrigerator. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place dough on cookie sheet with wax paper or a silicone baking mat. Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes.
Photos courtesy of The Ritz Carlton, Buckhead.
Hope / December 11, 2012
How I love the Ritz. How I love Atlanta. How I love peppermint and chocolate together!
Thanks for the recipe. It will be made and devoured by this weekend.
Evelyn Kendall / December 5, 2018
Back in 1980’s a magazine printed famous chefs recipes. The chef at the Ritz Carlton had a recipe that was made with a honey and butter bottom and the filling was honey, cream and butter and then it had red and green candied cherries with blanched almonds on top. I loved the bars but have lost my recipe. Can you help me?