Mint Chocolate Cookies

I love these cookies. In fact, you guys, I’m going to make a bold statement here. These are my favorite cookies. BOOM! That’s right. Favorite. Which explains why I only make them once a year. Because if I made them as often as I think about them (all the time) and ate them as often as I’d like to (all the time) I would have to be rolled into the office. Or maybe transported on a flatbed truck. Because they are THAT good. I mean, as long as you like chocolatey, fudgy cookies topped with delicious swirled Andes mints. You know, if you enjoy that sort of fabulous thing.

Anyway, I make these once a year, every year, for Christmas. I try to give most of them away, but I find myself making bigger and bigger batches so that I have plenty to keep for myself too. In the recipe book where we found this gem, there are post it notes stuck in with the measurements for double, triple, and quadruple batches. My mom used to make them when I was a kid, but I took over as soon as I could and have been making them ever since. I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you add them to your repertoire. Or you could always become my good friend and you’ll get them from me. Once a year.

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

6 Tbsps. unsalted butter

1 Tbsp. water

6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

1 egg

1 ¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

8 to 12 oz. Andes mints

In a saucepan over low heat, combine the brown sugar, butter and water. You want to stir often as the butter melts so that the brown sugar doesn’t burn on the bottom. Stir until the butter is completely melted (be patient!) and then pour in your chocolate chips and stir continuously. Again, make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn on the bottom. When the chips are completely melted and you no longer see any lumps and bumps, pour the mixture into a large bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

Beat in one egg, and then add the flour and soda on top. Mix the soda into the flour before stirring it all together. Make sure that the flour is completely mixed in, but don’t over mix. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight to make the next step easier.

Roll the dough out into 1-inch (or so) balls and place on a cookie sheet. You’ll cook them at 350 for about 7 minutes. You may have to adjust your cooking time based on your oven, and also for the first batch it usually takes a minute more (I think because the pan is cool). They should be puffed up and fragile looking with some crackles in the cookie.

While they are baking, unwrap your Andes mints and cut them in half. Take the cookies out and place a mint half on each cookie. Just barely push it down, just enough to create a tiny dip—don’t press the mint actually down into the cookie. Put them back in the oven for just one minute, and then pull them out again. With a butter knife, swirl the melted mint on top of the cookie a bit like frosting. You don’t need to cover the whole cookie, just the top. Then let them sit and cool for a few minutes. If you try to move them right away, they are likely to fall apart, but as they cool they hold together a little more. After a few minutes, remove them to some wax paper to cool fully before storing. Or before putting them directly in your mouth.