A Minneapolis baker's winning cookie recipe

Just when the Star Tribune's Taste Holiday Cookie Contest was putting the spotlight on Twin Cities bakers, another Minneapolis cookie maker was stepping into cookie fame and fortune.

She's Karen Cope, and her formula for Chocolate Croissant Cookies was named the winner in Cook's Country magazine's annual Christmas cookie contest. Along with seeing her name -- and her recipe -- in the magazine, Cope was also awarded $1,000. Congratulations!

CHOCOLATE CROISSANT COOKIES

Makes 20 cookies.

Note: This recipe must be prepared in advance. From Cook's Country magazine and contest winner Karen Cope of Minneapolis. "While Hershey's isn't the test kitchen's favorite milk chocolate (that would be Dove Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate), it is essential in this recipe," notes the magazine. "Why? Because these cookies were engineered to work with three-rectangle blocks of the iconic milk chocolate. Place one chocolate rectangle in the center of each 4-by-2-inch piece of dough, fold the edges over, and bake seam side down."

1 c. flour

1/8 tsp. salt

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

½ tsp. vanilla extract

6 (1.55-oz.) Hershey's milk chocolate bars, divided

1 egg, slightly beaten

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt.

In a bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, cream cheese and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 2 additions, scraping down sides of bowl and mixing until just incorporated. Form dough into a 6-inch disk. Wrap disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Break 5 chocolate bars crosswise along their 3 seams to yield 4 rectangles (you should have 20 pieces in total). On a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 20-by-8-inch rectangle. Cut dough into 20 4-by-2 rectangles. Working with 1 dough rectangle at a time, place 1 chocolate piece crosswise across dough (so chocolate hangs over edges). Fold dough around chocolate. Repeat with remaining 19 pieces of dough and chocolate and place cookies, seam side down, 1 ½ inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Brush tops with egg and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.