Method (cookie)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.
2. Add the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl or the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Or you can whip with a hand mixer or the stand mixer until light and creamy.
3. Add the peppermint and milk. Whip again until combined.
4. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix until just combined.
5. Fold in 80g of the chocolate.
6. Scoop the cookie dough into 8 balls using spoons or an ice-cream scoop.
7. Press the remaining chocolate on top of the cookies.
8. Place the cookies on the lined tray, pressing them down slightly, leaving room in between as they will spread when baking.
9. Bake in the middle of the oven for 12-15 minutes.
10. Once baked, remove the trays from the oven, use a round cookie cutter to help shape the cookies. Use the cookie cutter to scoot the cookies into a circle.
11. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray.

Method (chocolate frosting)

1. Add the butter into a bowl and whip until smooth and creamy, either in a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment or using a hand held electric whisk.
2. Add in the icing sugar, cocoa powder and peppermint. Whip until creamy.
3. Pour in the aquafaba and whip on high speed for around 5 minutes until light and creamy.
4. Transfer the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle.
5. Once the cookies are fully cool, pipe a swirl of the frosting on top of each cookie.

Decoration

1. Place the dairy-free white chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. Fill a small saucepan 1/4 with water and place over the hob on a low / medium heat. Place the bowl on-top to create a bain-marie. Melt the white chocolate and allow to cool for a few minutes. Repeat for the dark chocolate.
2. Transfer the white chocolate into a piping bag and snip off the tip. Repeat for the dark chocolate, so you’ll have two bags filled with white and dark chocolate.
3. Lay a sheet of grease proof paper on a tray and pipe a circle of the white chocolate and add a dot of dark chocolate into the middle for the eyes. Repeat until you have lots of eyes.
4. Pipe some dark chocolate antlers on the paper. Transfer the tray into the freezer for 10 minutes to set the chocolate.
5. once set, remove form the paper and press into the frosting to stick to create the reindeer. Ad on a fresh cranberry for the nose.