Chocolate Mint Cookies

These are some of the cookies that I make only around the holidays and everyone seems to love them. They are very easy to make and taste great, assuming you like the taste of chocolate and mint together.

Ingredients:

3/4 c. butter
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. water
2 c. chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 & 1/2 c. flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Thin mints, such as Andes--one mint per cookie, approximately 32-64 depending on the size of the cookies

Oven Temp: 350 degrees
Baking Time: 8-10 minutes

Start out by combining the butter, brown sugar, and water in a medium-size saucepan over low heat, until the butter has melted and a smooth mixture forms.

Stir in the chocolate chips and allow them to melt into the mixture.

At this point, you need to remove the saucepan from the heat source and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes.  You'll be adding eggs next and you don't want to accidentally cook them up! ;)

Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each one.  After both eggs have been combined, your chocolate mixture will now be a bit thinner and very shiny.

Next, add the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir very well to incorporate all the dry ingredients.  The mixture will be quite thick, which is what you want.

This mixture needs to be refrigerated for a while (approximately 1 hour) in order for you to form the actual cookies without having a huge mess on your hands.

After an hour or so in the fridge, go ahead and make dough balls to the size you like.  Set the cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet and press the cookies down slightly with your palm to flatten them out a bit.

Once you have the cookies set to go, place them in the 350 degree oven and allow them to bake for 8-10 minutes.  If you want a softer cookie, aim for 8 minutes, for a firmer cookie, closer to 10 minutes. While the cookies are baking, it's a good time to remove the wrappers from the thin mints.

As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, go ahead and place one thin mint on top of each cookie.

The heat of the cookie will melt the mint.  For a smooth finish, use the back of a spoon to evenly spread the mint over the face of the cookie.  If you haven't already, move the cookie from the baking tray to a cooling rack.  Enjoy these cookies warm or cool...they taste great no matter what temperature they are!