Chewy Mint Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are... divine.

I mean, I was expecting good things when I made them and all. But what I was gifted with is probably my new favorite cookie base. I'm relatively new to the new baking world (and not ashamed to admit it!) so the majority of chewy cookie recipes I make involve creaming butter and sugar. This is the first recipe I'e tried using melted butter instead of a creaming process.

What a revelation! Now, I'm sure the experienced bakers among you are snortling along, thinking "Yes dear, the concept of melted butter in cookies is not exactly a novel concept." You'd probably be right. But it's new to me, so you'll just have to put up and listen :)

This cookie is chewy. It's moist. It reminds me of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. The best part is that I now have this wonderful brown sugar cookie base with a world of endless possibilities. You could omit the mint baking chips, and instead add chocolate chips. Or M&M's. Or make it funfetti. Try a fruit and nut combination! Add red food color to make it Red Velvet. I'm envisioning a Valentine's theme cookie on the way soon...

I hope everyone had a great weekend and somehow, inexplicably, managed to stay warm!

Ingredients (makes 18 cookies):

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp coffee extract

1 1/2 cups Andes Mint Baking Chips

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk to combine flour through cocoa powder. Set aside.

2. In another separate bowl, whisk butter and sugars until there are no more lumps. Mix in egg. Mix in egg yolk. Whisk in vanilla and coffee extracts. Add dry ingredients to wet, combine with a spatula. Fold in the mint chips. The dough will be very soft, do your best to distribute the chips through the dough. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour <--- mandatory

3. Preheat oven to 350º. Line 2 cookies sheet with parchment paper, set aside. Remove dough from fridge, and allow to sit on counter for 10 minutes.

4. Use a 2 tbsp cookie scoop, then roll cookie dough into a little log. Yes, not a ball, a log. A short, stout log. Stand the logs up tall on the cookie sheet. Take care to make sure the dough is pretty secure on the cookie sheet. If your little log falls in the oven, while it will still be delicious, it will resemble a biscuit rather than a cookie. These cookies fall and spread, so making them little logs allows them to spread into a perfect cookie. Place 9 logs on a sheet.

5. Bake in preheated oven 11-13 minutes. Cookies will look under-baked in the middle, but they are done. Allow to cool 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing them to a cooling rack. Cool completely before storage.

Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction