How to make Christina Tosi's peppermint glazed chocolate cutout Christmas cookies

Milk Bar owner and pasty chef extraordinaire Christina Tosi joined "Good Morning America" for our 12 Days of Christmas cookies.

Try your hand at her sweet and festive glazed chocolate cutout cookies to replicate the "10 Lords a Leaping" from the classic Christmas carol. Tosi shared some of her pro baking tips with "GMA" to make your holiday baking even easier.

Chocolate Cutout Cookies with Peppermint Glaze

Ingredients for the Chocolate Cutout Cookies
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 2/3 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 and 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Prep: Coat your baking sheets with baking spray.

Whisk and Combine: In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and vanilla. In a large bowl, combine the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt with a wooden spoon. Mix in the egg mixture. Add the butter and stir until smooth. It may be easiest to ditch the spoon and use your hands to form the dough.

Shape and Chill: Form the dough into a ball, and divide the ball into 3 pieces. Place each piece into a plastic bag and pat the dough smooth to flatten with your hands. Refrigerate the bags for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Roll and Cut: Dust a clean, dry section of your countertop with a little flour. Take a piece of dough out of the plastic bag and place on the counter. Dust the rolling pin with a little flour and roll out the dough until it is a rectangle that is ¼ inch thick (use a ruler!). Using a cookie cutter of your choosing, cut your cookie shapes and use a spatula to lift your cut outs and transfer them to your prepared baking sheet.

Bake: Bake the cookies at 350°F for 6 to 8 minutes. Double-check that you set the timer. Because these cookies are already dark brown from the cocoa, it’s tricky to tell by sight when they are ready to take out of the oven. With oven mitts, remove the baking sheets from the oven and cool the cookies completely on the baking sheets before decorating.

Ingredients for the glaze and decor
1 tablespoon of milk
1 teaspoon mint extract (optional)
½ cup powdered sugar
Food coloring (optional)
Crushed candy canes
Pretzels

Directions

Whisk: In a small bowl, combine your milk with the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth.

Glaze and decorate: With your glaze in one bowl and toppings in another, dip your cookie straight into the glaze for a smooth layer, or use a spoon to drizzle and spread glaze in your favorite designs and sprinkle on the toppings. The cookie is your canvas! Lay your finished cookies on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet for a few minutes to dry before sharing.

Tosi's top baking tips

Ditch the spoon and use your hands to form the dough!

Refrigerating the dough helps the cutout cookies keep their shape and not spread too much.

Use any kind of cookie cutter or shape you like -- this is where you can show your personality! In my cookbook, I even made them into building blocks and made cookie sandwiches out of them. The possibilities are endless!

Make sure you set your timer! Because these cookies are already dark brown from the cocoa, it's tricky to tell by sight when they're ready to take out of the oven.

If you're a huge peppermint fan, add a tsp of peppermint extract to your glaze for extra punch. You can also play around with food colorings if you'd like.

Use a zip-top bag for a DIY piping bag. It will make glazing your cookies easy and fun!

Recipe reprinted courtesy of Christina Tosi, Milk Bar.