MMM-mmm-Mint Chocolate Day!

Holy Mint Chocolate Day, Batman!

I really love these food holidays, they are the easiest and yummiest to celebrate! Last night at dinner my older son asked me which direction I am taking my blog- am I going to specialize in national holidays or historical holidays or just try to find the zaniest ones to share with my readers. I told him that the beauty of Celebrate Holiday is that it could be any of those and more. However, if I had to choose, it might very well be food holidays.

So today being Mint Chocolate Day, I have decided to share a phenomenal recipe for Chocolate Mint Cookies that I found on one of my favorite recipe websites, www.allrecipes.com.

Chocolate Mint Cookies (photo by mckarlson)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 36 chocolate mint wafer candies (like Andes)

Directions

1. In a large pan over low heat, cook butter, sugar and water until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large bowl and let stand 10 minutes to cool off slightly.
2. At high speed, beat in eggs, one at a time into chocolate mixture. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating until blended. Chill dough about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Roll dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. While cookies are baking unwrap mints and divide each in half. When cookies are brought out of the oven, put 1/2 mint on top of each cookie. Let the mint sit for up to 5 minutes until melted, then spread the mint on top of the cookie. Eat and enjoy!

Many reviewers recommend placing the tray of cookies back in the refrigerator after spreading the melted mint on top so that they can cool and harden faster. Yummy!

My Aunt used to always give me Andes Mints on St. Patrick’s Day, saying they were a gift from her ‘leprechaun friend’, but that is a story for another holiday…

Enjoy!