Buttery Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peppermint is Christmasy.  Candy canes, peppermint pigs…the sweet and icy cool candy is everywhere this season. The one thing I enjoy even more than peppermint? The combination of chocolate and mint…how many of us have eaten way too many After Eights for our own good; or double scoops of Milk Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream? 😀 So when I received a bag of these baking chips, I knew I wanted to use them as part of my Christmas sugar and spice project.

If you’ve eaten Andes candies before, these chips are the candy rubble version of the real thing. And so addictive when you are eating them for fun! (I do this. With all manner and form of baking chips. A LOT. I never said it was good for you, though.)

I wanted something for afternoon tea, and something that could be made fast. I had bookmarked my blogger pal Ameena’s thumbprint cookie recipe, and figured now would be the perfect time to use it. My initial idea was to create a thumbprint cookie, filling the thumbprint with the chips. But then I figured, why not just throw everything into the batter so you can bite into the chips  from all sides?

I followed Ameena’s recipe  as is; except that I added these mint-chocolate baking chips instead of jam. The batter I got was light and fluffy; almost like cake icing, and I had some trouble handling it and shaping into little balls. So I allowed it to rest in the fridge for half an hour and then scooped them into 1/2 tablespoon-sized balls onto my cookie tray.

Baked at 200C for 15 mins and voila!

I added a bit of a saturated effect to the pics just for the heck of it.

BUTTERY MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (Adapted from Ameena’s Thumbprint Cookies.)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup castor sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup mint chocolate chips + a little extra for sprinkling on top

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 200 C.
• Grease a cookie tray and keep aside.
• First, in a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and castor sugar together really well. I oscillated between low, medium and high speeds just to amuse my toddler son. And myself.
• Next, add the flour and mint chocolate chips a little at a time and combine well.
• Allow the dough to rest in the fridge for half an hour.
• Shape into 1/2 tablespoon sized balls, decorate with some more chips on top and bake at 200c for 15minutes.
• Allow cookies to cool completely.

These cookies are crisp and oh-so-buttery; and very crumbly as well. They do leave behind a lot of crumb, but hey- at least it’s proof that they were devoured. These are great for tea time. Or any other time.

Have a great weekend!!