For me, the holidays are all about baking delicious treats to share with friends (and indulge myself from time to time). When I came across this recipe for simple sugar cookies with a chocolate dip* and candy cane coated crunch*, I knew I had found the perfect combination of holiday flavors. The sugar cookie part is easy and universal enough that you could whip up a batch and top them with anything you like; frosting and sprinkles, plain white or dark chocolate and slivered almonds, you name it! If you want to try these out, they don’t require a ton of time or any fancy kitchen appliances. Trying to keep your holidays simple here!

You’ll need:

2 ¾ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted or softened
1 ½ cups sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips of your choice
½ cup crushed candy canes

The beauty of this recipe is that it only uses one bowl! Any batter that limits clean up is fantastic in my book. Simply mix the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, create a large dough ball and then roll smaller, 1-inch dough balls from there and lay them on your parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until tops are browning and cracking slightly. Allow sugar cookies to cool completely before dipping in melted chocolate and candy cane crunch coating.

*Tip for crushing candy canes: Make sure to crush them as finely as possible. The cookies will have just the right hit of mint with a light dusting as opposed to larger chunks of candy cane. I used a large measuring cup to crush the candy canes in a sandwich bag.

*Tip for melting chocolate: Lots of recipes call for melting chocolate over a double boiler. I prefer to save the time and dishes by placing the chocolate chips in a large Pyrex measuring cup and blasting them in the microwave for about 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir.