Chocolate Mint Cookies Recipe: Easy and Delicious
- Carbohydrate 37.4262224313373 g
- Cholesterol 54.7722222481334 mg
- Fat 23.5459853839278 g
- Fiber 1.01990742588572 g
- Protein 2.79613333612306 g
- Saturated Fat 14.7141609342616 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (86g)
- Sodium 386.284426277594 mg
- Sugar 36.4063150054516 g
- Trans Fat 1.61681426017109 g
- Calories 362 calories
Step-by-step
- 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.
- 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.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- 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!
Visual cues remain the single most reliable metric for determining when chocolate-rich drop cookies have finished baking, as internal thermometers fail on small, dense pastries. Baking sheets pulled straight from a 350 degrees F oven require immediate visual inspection of the edges and surface cracks. Once the outer perimeter appears set and matte while the interior retains a slight glossy softness under gentle pressure, extraction must happen immediately. Leaving butter-based doughs in the heat past this exact eight-to-ten-minute window destroys the desired tender crumb structure.
Fat and sugar ratios dictate how these specific structural transformations occur during the initial pan-melting stage. Combining butter and brown sugar with water creates a syrup that hydrates the flour proteins more evenly than creaming solid fat alone. When semisweet chocolate chips melt into this warm base, the cocoa solids disperse alongside dairy fats to coat the gluten strands. This technique suppresses excessive gluten development, yielding a dense, fudgy interior rather than a bready cake texture.
Managing dough temperature requires active chilling to counteract the heat introduced during the initial stovetop melting process. Placing the mixing bowl in a refrigerator for precisely one hour solidifies the suspended fats. Cold fat holds its shape longer in the oven, preventing the dough balls from spreading into flat puddles before the structural proteins can coagulate. Chilled portions also hold the weight of the chocolate mint wafer candies applied during the post-bake resting period.
Applying the mint halves requires precise timing while residual heat softens the confection. Placing the candy directly onto the hot surface immediately after extraction allows the cocoa butter and sugar within the wafer to melt without scorching. Allowing this topping to sit undisturbed for five minutes creates a smooth, spreadable layer that adheres permanently to the cookie base. Storing the finished batch in an airtight container at room temperature preserves this moisture balance for up to four days.
