Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly greased foil, or use a nonstick cookie sheet. Set aside for later.

Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt to a medium bowl. Whisk until well mixed.

Add butter, cane sugar, brown sugar, egg, peppermint, vanilla, and maple syrup to a large bowl. Whisk until well mixed.

Pour the dry ingredients into the large bowl. Whisk as long as you can, then switch to stirring and folding with a rubber spatula until well mixed and no flour patches remain. Fold in chocolate chips.

Cover the bowl and chill in the freezer for 15-25 minutes, or until chilled and firm throughout. The dough is ready when it’s cold even in the center and just-slightly soft enough to scoop.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the peppermint candy. Crush candy into medium-small pieces—not too small to avoid the candy melting in the oven. Pour crushed candy into a small, shallow rimmed bowl or plate.

Once the dough is chilled, use a medium cookie scoop to scoop and drop balls of cookie onto the prepared baking sheet. Using a spoon, flatten cookies about halfway. Repeat for all cookies, spacing them evenly apart. Cookies will spread a bit during baking.

Bake for 11-13 minutes. Mine took 12 minutes.

Remove cookie sheet from oven and place on a heatproof surface. Carefully press crushed candy cane pieces and a few chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie.

Place the cookie sheet back into the oven and bake for 2 minutes.

Cool cookies on the sheet for about 10 minutes, then using a heatproof spatula, transfer directly onto a cooling rack. Enjoy!

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