fruits of my labor
I had a very domestic, busy weekend -- spent gardening, doing a crafty project (mostly, painting the border of a corkboard which is the extent of my crafty skills), cleaning, cooking, and of course, baking.
Didn't get to the pasties unfortunately...after waking up at 8am, bustling about all day and then staying up until 2am to otherwise procrastinate on the internet, I got too lazy to attempt the pastry crust. Also, I suck at timing butter -- you know, setting it out to be at room temp for cookies/cake or sticking it in the freezer for pastry crusts. I'm best at spur-of-the-moment recipes that require no advance planning whatsoever. LOL
Anyway~
Mint Double Chocolate Fudge Cookies stuffed with Thin Mints!
Sorry, the lighting in my kitchen sucks and I took the photo with my phone camera. :/ I'll figure out food photography yet.
The cookies turned out fantastically -- the texture was fudgy and soft around a slightly crunchy chocolatey center, and crisp around the edges. You can see the middle part in the cookie I broke in half. The entire thing was mint chocolate chocoholic galore, but not too sweet. (I love dark chocolate.) I'm not going to tell you how many I ate. My roommate is a bit of a health nut, but I think I broke him now, with the influx of Samoas and now double chocolate fudge cookies into the household. Bwahaha!
The only thing that will keep me from making these cookies again, aside from the once-a-year opportunity to buy Thin Mints, is that coating the TM with the batter was a bitch and a half. TMs are covered with a hard chocolate shell and it's as slick as a freshly waxed floor, so the batter just wouldn't stick without a bit of swearing, messy fingers, and creative use of a butter knife to trowel it on like grout. I've seen the concept done w/ Oreos and Samoas, and now I can see why, because they have a rough surface. The chocolate coating fuses with the rest of the dough later, though, and the TM inside softens into chewy, still-a-bit crunchy goodness. Yum.
Ah, well. I'll prob make them again, but on a special occasion like my yearly Xmas cookie gifting binge.
Mint Double Chocolate Fudge Cookies stuffed with Thin Mints!
1.5 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup Dutch process cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 c strong coffee (alternatively you can mix some instant into some lukewarm water, or omit entirely if you don't have coffee around; the coffee just helps intensify the chocolate flavor)
1.5 teaspoon peppermint extract (put less or omit if you don't like peppermint all that much)
1 package Thin Mints (makes 32 cookies)
Cream together the butter and sugars. Add in the eggs and peppermint and mix until well combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly add the dry mix to the wet mixture until just combined. Add the coffee, eyeballing it. You don't want the dough to be too dry or too wet. It'll be sticky.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat each Thin Mint with a layer, top, bottom, and sides, of dough. Make it as thin or as thick as you want, keeping in mind that you leave enough dough to cover all the TMs.
Place the cookies at least two inches apart on a baking sheet and bake for 9-13 minutes.
Didn't get to the pasties unfortunately...after waking up at 8am, bustling about all day and then staying up until 2am to otherwise procrastinate on the internet, I got too lazy to attempt the pastry crust. Also, I suck at timing butter -- you know, setting it out to be at room temp for cookies/cake or sticking it in the freezer for pastry crusts. I'm best at spur-of-the-moment recipes that require no advance planning whatsoever. LOL
Anyway~
Mint Double Chocolate Fudge Cookies stuffed with Thin Mints!
Sorry, the lighting in my kitchen sucks and I took the photo with my phone camera. :/ I'll figure out food photography yet.
The cookies turned out fantastically -- the texture was fudgy and soft around a slightly crunchy chocolatey center, and crisp around the edges. You can see the middle part in the cookie I broke in half. The entire thing was mint chocolate chocoholic galore, but not too sweet. (I love dark chocolate.) I'm not going to tell you how many I ate. My roommate is a bit of a health nut, but I think I broke him now, with the influx of Samoas and now double chocolate fudge cookies into the household. Bwahaha!
The only thing that will keep me from making these cookies again, aside from the once-a-year opportunity to buy Thin Mints, is that coating the TM with the batter was a bitch and a half. TMs are covered with a hard chocolate shell and it's as slick as a freshly waxed floor, so the batter just wouldn't stick without a bit of swearing, messy fingers, and creative use of a butter knife to trowel it on like grout. I've seen the concept done w/ Oreos and Samoas, and now I can see why, because they have a rough surface. The chocolate coating fuses with the rest of the dough later, though, and the TM inside softens into chewy, still-a-bit crunchy goodness. Yum.
Ah, well. I'll prob make them again, but on a special occasion like my yearly Xmas cookie gifting binge.
Mint Double Chocolate Fudge Cookies stuffed with Thin Mints!
1.5 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup Dutch process cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 c strong coffee (alternatively you can mix some instant into some lukewarm water, or omit entirely if you don't have coffee around; the coffee just helps intensify the chocolate flavor)
1.5 teaspoon peppermint extract (put less or omit if you don't like peppermint all that much)
1 package Thin Mints (makes 32 cookies)
Cream together the butter and sugars. Add in the eggs and peppermint and mix until well combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly add the dry mix to the wet mixture until just combined. Add the coffee, eyeballing it. You don't want the dough to be too dry or too wet. It'll be sticky.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat each Thin Mint with a layer, top, bottom, and sides, of dough. Make it as thin or as thick as you want, keeping in mind that you leave enough dough to cover all the TMs.
Place the cookies at least two inches apart on a baking sheet and bake for 9-13 minutes.