Food for Thought: Junior Mint Cookies

Oh yeah, you heard me... Junior Mint Cookies. I know what you're thinking - Junior Mints AND Cookies? Those are two incredibly powerful forces being combined. I know. It's amazing. Trust me.

When I was trying think up some cookie ideas, this came to me. I thought about my Junior Mint Brownies (<--- click name for recipe & info) and how the topping made that delicious minty shell when cooled. I figured that HAD to be amazing on a cookie, right? Oooohhhh yeah.

First you'll need a basic chocolate cookie recipe OR feel free to use your favorite mix kind (such as Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Chunk).

Here's the recipe I used:

In a medium sized bowl I combined 2-1/2 cups of King Arthur's Flour, 1/2 cup of Baking Cocoa (I use Hershey brand because it's safe for Little Miss), 1 tsp of Baking Soda, & 1/2 tsp of Salt.

In a large mixing bowl I mixed together 1 cup of Butter, 1 cup of Brown Sugar, 3/4 cup of White Sugar, and 1 tsp of Vanilla Extact until creamy.

Beat in 2 Large Eggs until mixture is light and fluffy.

Gradually mix the flour mixture from the medium bowl into the large mixing bowl.
IF you want to add any extra goodies, such as chocolate chips, now is the time to do that too. :)

Form dough into loose 1" size balls and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees or until cookie are puffed up.

Place on wire rack to cool. I transported my parchment paper directly onto the cooling rack and you'll see why. :)

Immediately place a Junior Mint in the center of each cookie.

The take a sheet of aluminum foil and lightly cover the cookies. I lightly tucked in the sides, to create a dome around them.

While this is "working its magic", quick go throw another batch in the oven! Hehe

It really only takes that amount of time 2-3 minutes for the Junior Mints to get gooey enough to spread with a knife.

As mentioned above, spread the Junior Mint over the cookie with a knife just like icing. As the cookie and Junior Mint cool, it will form a minty shell. Mmm...

When the next batch of cookies is out of the oven, be a rebel... put on two Junior Mints. You know why? Because I know you'll have sampled one of those cookies by now. And you'll have loved the hint of mint that one Junior Mint gave. But who only wants a hint?! Kick it up!! ;)

The cookie recipe stated above will make about 3-1/2 dozen cookies.

To determine the amount of Junior Mints needed depends if you put one, two, or three ;) ;) on the cookies.

Those large "theater size" boxes (they sell them at Walgreen and are typically on sale for $1/ box) have approximately 48 pieces per box. You do the math. :)

PS: We LOVE Junior Mints in our household. Junior Mints are made by Tootsie Roll Industries (FYI) - they are producted in a facility does NOT use peanuts, tree nuts, or gluten!

Now go eat some cookies!

Or at least lick the melted Junior Mint off the aluminum foil dome..................