Creamy Chocolate Mint Cookies

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

We’ve been baking up a storm to bring you our annual 12 Days of Cookies. This is our EIGHTH year doing this…and just this year my kids wondered if we will eventually run out of creative ideas for new recipes.

Never.

It will be my greatest accomplishment if my kids still text me ideas for this series when they are grown adults. Just yesterday my 11-year-old had a cup of tea at a friends house and Facetimed me immediately — Mom! I’m drinking cinnamon blackberry tea — isn’t that a weird combination? I never thought of it but it would be PERFECT in a cookie!.

Year. Made.

Our first cookie of the season actually ended up in the reject pile initially. It was so tasty, but terribly ugly. My six-year-old proclaimed it looked like “poop nuggets with boogers inside”. So it went in the scrap pile, only to be rescued months later when one of us had an idea to flatten it a bit and coat it in sparkling sugar. Such a difference!

These a rich, chocolaty cookies with a bright mint filling. They are perfect as the stars of your show at Christmas, or on a cookie platter with lots of other friends. I would take these to a cookie exchange in a heartbeat because they are something different and delicious.

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Creamy Chocolate Mint Cookies
The dough is thick and dense; it is really important that you don’t get heavy handed when measuring the flour. Spoon and level, got it?

For the Cookies
• 4 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup caster/granulated sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoona peppermint extract
• 2 cupa plain/all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar for coating

For the Filling
• 4 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• Green food coloring

Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350, and line a baking tray with parchment paper, or a silicone mat.

Add the dark chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl, and heat in 20 second intervals, stirring after each one, until melted and smooth. Set aside.

Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, vanilla, and mint extract, and mix until combined. Add the melted chocolate, and mix until combined.

Add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt, and mix to form a smooth, slightly sticky dough.

Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Roll each one in granulated sugar, and place on the prepared baking tray. Use your thumb, or the back of a small measuring spoon to make an indent in the middle of each ball.

Bake for 10 – 12 minutes until slightly firm, and cracked around the edges. If the indents have risen, gently press them back down with the measuring spoon. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling:

Add the white chocolate, and heavy cream to a microwave-safe bowl, and heat for 20 – 30 seconds. Stir until melted and smooth. Once melted, stir in the mint extract, and a drop of green food coloring.

Fill the indents in the cookies with the mint chocolate filling. Place the cookies in the fridge for about 30 minutes to allow the filling to set. If desired, drizzle on some extra melted chocolate

Makes about 3 dozen.

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