chocolate mint cookies | Bewitching Kitchen

If you type “chocolate cookie recipe” in a Google search you’ll get over 2 million hits in return. Two million. How many recipes for chocolate cookies does the world need? Nobody knows. Since in my humble food blog I only have 13 cookie recipes, of which less than half involve chocolate, I need to catch up. Here is one more for you, no chocolate chips, just good old melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and pieces of chocolate mint candy, such as Andes. By the way, did you know that Andes mints originated in Chicago in the 1920’s and were originally named Andy’s Mints? It turns out that the owners of the company quickly realized that men did not care to give their partners a candy with another guy’s name on the box. So, instead of honoring its creator, Andrew Kanelos, Andy’s became Andes, and now we have a chocolate mint that is not too far away from celebrating its 100th Birthday. The distinguished candy works well in this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE AND MINT COOKIES
(from Giada de Laurentiis)

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
One 5-ounce package chocolate mint thins, such as Andes, each cut into thirds
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Heat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
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In a small bowl, combine the bittersweet chocolate and butter. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
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In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, 2 tablespoons water and vanilla extract. Gradually add the dry ingredients. Fold in the cooled chocolate. Stir in the chocolate mint pieces. Chill the dough 10 minutes to firm slightly.

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Using 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop 6 mounds of batter onto each prepared sheet, spacing evenly apart. Bake the cookies for a total of 18 to 20 minutes, until slightly puffed and dry-looking with some small cracks on top.
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Cool the cookies completely on sheets.
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ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Mint is an interesting flavor. I think most people like it, but when someone doesn’t care for it, it’s a bit like cilantro. Intense hate. I wish I could tell you whether the mint flavor is too strong in these cookies, but I didn’t have a single one. I baked them during my lunch break, took them still warm to the department, but when I went back to grab one, only crumbs were staring at me from the platter. However, according to one of our graduate students, the mint component was pretty mild. Two pointers for success from watching Giada’s show: first, keep the pieces of the Andes candies on the large side, because that makes them melt in your mouth as you bite into the cookie. Second, cool the dough before baking. The recipe uses relatively little flour, so cooling is needed to be able to scoop them out nicely.