Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies

It's a good thing we had an extra hour due to our annual Fall time change because I needed it the day I made these very time-consuming cookies. I think in the end though, the effort was worth it as they turned out delightfully! The recipe is called Chocolate Mint Delights but I want to call them Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies. When they were finished they reminded me of those little Andes chocolate after dinner mints wrapped in green foil.

Here's where I made my mistake. The recipe called for a two inch cookie cutter and I decided it would be nice to have little bite sized cookies so I used a one inch cutter. This decision caused me to have to have to roll out and cut and fill so many more cookies. In total, using a one inch cutter, I got 50 sandwich cookies in all. On the bright side, there will be plenty to go around in my gift baskets.

Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies

Cookie Dough

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Mint Cream Filling

1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening

1 Tbsp light corn syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

2 drops green food color

In medium bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, cocoa and salt until well blended. In a large bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, then vanilla until blended. On low speed, add the flour mixture until just combined. Divide the dough into four portions, shape into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, until firm.

Make cream filling by beating shortening, corn syrup and extracts with mixer until blended. Add confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in food color until blended.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat baking sheets with nonstick spray or cover with parchment paper or silpac sheet. On a floured board with a floured rolling pin, roll out 1 portion of dough at a time to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out cookies and place about 1 inch apart on baking sheet. If desired use a toothpick to poke a decorative design in each cookie. (I skipped this part.) Bake 9-12 minutes or until firm when touched. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
When cookies are cool, spread 1 teaspoon of filling on half the cookies. Top the remaining cookies, pressing gently to sandwich together.

MINTY GOODNESS

A bake sale was beckoning at the Fire Dept. for a good cause - the local food bank. The always daunting question lay before me; what to cook? Should I go for the usual suspects, cookies, banana bread, cupcakes? Or think "outside the box" and challenge my creativity.

Going for the latter, I decided on candy making at which I am a virtual novice. I went for a simple no cook recipe of butter mints, a much beloved treat my mother has made over the years for special occasions such as wedding receptions. Well, I guess that's the only time she made them really! But they left an impression.

Off to the Candy Making Store I went and purchased the required silicone molds in the shapes of a rose and leaf, peppermint extract and food colors. I also obtained there a copy of a corresponding recipe for said butter mints that I thought I would try since I didn't have my mom's recipe.

My experiment started Saturday and ended (thankfully and none too soon) Sunday. The recipe below has been adjusted considerably from the original I started with which called for only 1/4 cup of melted butter. In fact, it took 1/2 cup plus approximately 1 Tbsp. extra melted butter to make the candy dough malleable enough to work with. Utilizing the amount called for in the recipe only created a crumbly sticky mess.

The end results turned out most acceptable and despite my audience of primarily firefighters, my dozen bags of mints proceeded to sell out quite quickly and made $12.00 for a good cause.

Butter Mints

1 box minus 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 stick plus 1 tbsp melted butter

7 drops peppermint extract (more or less to get desired strength)

7 drops food color (more or less to get desired color)

granulated sugar for rolling

Put sugar in medium mixing bowl.

Add food color and extract to melted butter and pour into sugar.

Mix with fork (or hands) until mixture is consistency of play dough.

Roll mixture into size of small marble and roll one side into granulated sugar

Press sugar side down into mold, then immediately release onto wax paper.

Let mints sit uncovered overnight until they are slightly dried out.

Store in refrigerator or freeze until ready to use.