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1
Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, vanilla seeds, and salt on low speed in a mixer. Add butter a little at a time, taking care to stop the mixer with each addition to avoid a mess. The mixture will look very sandy. Once all the butter has been added, add the egg yolk and continue to mix until ingredients are evenly distributed and contents is a consistent, sandy texture. It will come together but not completely.
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2
Cover plastic wrap onto a work surface and dump dough mixture onto it. Form dough into three logs about 1 1/2 in wide and 10 inches long. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely chilled-20 minutes minimum.
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3
Preheat oven to 350u00b0F. Unwrap log and cut slices a little less than 1/4 inch (you can expect 4 cookies/inch). Place on cookie sheet lined with a silicone liner or parchment paper. Bake for 9 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and let cool.
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4
Frost cooled cookies with thickened ganache frosting and top with decorations. Let ganache harden.
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5
Emergency topping: Another way I have frosted these is to place 4 bittersweet chocolate chips on top of each cookie when they come out of the oven. Put back into oven for 1 minute, then remove. Using the back of a spoon, spread melted chocolate over each cookie, then sprinkle with peppermint shards. Remove to wire rack and let cool. Use only bittersweet chocolate chips for this.
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6
Heat heavy whipping cream in a small saucepan until bubbly. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is uniform. Let cool, stirring periodically until thickened and spreadable. (If you choose white chocolate, the ganache may appear on the thin side at first, but will harden with time. Alternatively, you can start off with 1/4 cup cream, adding more after the initial combination.) Don't refrigerate or it may seize.
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7
Note: you can add a couple of drops of peppermint extract to the ganache to up the minty-ness if you are using crushed candy canes.
