Trying out a potential Christmas cookie recipe

At our May Christmas Club meeting, I shared a thought which had recently occurred to me: one could (weather permitting) try out Christmas cookie recipes in the summer, perhaps adapting them slightly (as I have done with patriotic sprinkles above) to look less Christmasy if necessary.

This idea came to me as I was leafing through some recipes I had saved from the King Arthur Baking catalog.  When I saw the one below, it occurred to me that these cookies could be made patriotic by switching out the peppermint bits for red, white, and blue sprinkles.  I have linked to the recipe here: Hot Cocoa Cookies.

So last week I set out to try it.  I ended up changing quite a few things about the recipe as I didn't have everything on hand that it called for.  I used regular chocolate chips instead of mini; left out the cocoa nibs, and, for the top, used several dark chocolate chips instead of the bittersweet melting disks.  Next time, I will get the disks and I will also use the mini chips instead of regular, because I really think it will make a difference.  I think the disk will give a neater circle of chocolate on the top of the cookie, rather than substituting the four chocolate chips and swirling them around, as I did.

I also shaped the dough into balls because I just think molded cookies look neater than drop cookies, and my cookie scoop would have been too large for this.  I tried to keep the balls of dough about an inch in diameter, but came out with quite a few less cookies than the recipe specified.  I think I got about 3 1/2 dozen.

One unusual ingredient I did have was the espresso powder, which really did add a lovely flavor to the cookies.

I will definitely make these cookies again!  They are delicious, and went over well at the July 4th cookout I took them to.  Have you ever tried out Christmas recipes in July?