Double Dark Chocolate Creme de Menthe Cookies

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is holiday baking.  I spend a month or so before holiday time combing through pinterest and my favorite blogs looking for inspiration of what treats I want to bake.  I love making a variety of treats to give to all of the people in our lives.  This year I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it though because of our new little man, but luckily he took a couple of good naps on the Sunday before Christmas so I was able to whip up a couple of different treats.  It was later than I usually get my baking done, but at least I got some made.

I don't know about you, but I am a HUGE fan of chocolate and mint.  I love mint chip ice cream, thin mints at Girl Scout Cookie time, peppermint bark, Andes mints.  If it is mint and chocolate, I want to eat it.  I knew that if I only made one treat this holiday season it had to include some combination of chocolate and mint.  I really wanted the Hershey's mint chocolate chips but I couldn't find them at any local store.  Then I saw these Andes Creme de Menthe baking pieces.  When I was a kid my mom's parents always had Andes mints in a dish on their coffee table and I was definitely guilty of sneaking more than my fair share.  I LOVE those things so these baking pieces practically leapt into my cart.

I wanted to make a really rich, decadent cookie and these definitely fit the bill.  They combine dark cocoa powder with chopped dark chocolate, the Andes baking pieces, and because I'm a firm believer that you can't have too much chocolate I threw in some semisweet chocolate chips in as well.  

Start out by creaming 2 sticks of butter with some sugar and brown sugar.  Don't skimp on this step.  Take the time to get it really nice and fluffy, this is what makes your cookies have a nice light texture.

After about 5 minutes or so, add in some peppermint extract and the dark cocoa powder.  You can use regular cocoa powder if you don't have dark, but the dark is so much richer.  Look at that deep chocolate color, yum!

Crack in both eggs and mix again.  At this point you will really want to eat the cookie dough, try to resist, but if you can't, I won't tell anyone.  After all, what are friends for?

Add in some corn starch, baking soda, and flour.  Then wrap your mixer with plastic wrap (to help prevent a floury mess) and mix until it is well combined.  I recommend starting off slow and then speeding it up so that your flour stays in. 

Now for the fun part.  Chop up some dark chocolate, I used Trader Joe's pound plus bar.  (You can use dark chocolate chips or chunks instead but they won't give you the same melting pools of chocolate that chopped up chocolate will.) Pour in the dark chocolate, some chocolate chips, and the creme de menthe baking pieces.  This is a lot of mix-ins and they are delicious!!

The dough will be very thick so I enlisted my husband to stir in all of that chocolatey goodness.  You can either stir it in by hand or use your mixer.

Use a cookie scoop to drop the cookies about 2 inches apart on your parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 8 minutes.  

These can be baked right away, without refrigerating, and they will stay nice and puffed, yay!  I hate it when I make cookies and then I have to wait hours before baking.  I am impatient and want cookies in my face as soon as humanly possible.  

These cookies are mint chocolate bliss.  The combination of the semi-sweet chocolate chips, the melty dark chocolate, and the creamy creme de menthe pieces makes a soft, gooey, ultra-chocolatey minty cookie.  Have an ice-cold glass of milk ready and eat some when they are still warm from the oven.  

Then give away the rest as quickly as possible or you may end up eating a lot more cookies than you had planned on.  

Double Dark Chocolate Creme de Menthe Cookies
Makes about 5 dozen cookies
 Adapted from Back For Seconds

• 1 cup butter, softened 
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. peppermint extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 heaping tbls. cornstarch
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chunks
• 1 cup Andes creme de menthe baking pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
3. Add in cocoa powder and peppermint extract and mix until the cocoa is completely blended in.
4. Crack in both eggs and mix again until well incorporated.
5. Add baking soda, cornstarch, and flour and mix until the dough is completely brown with no white showing from the flour.
6. Stir in all the chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, and Andes pieces.
7. Use a cookie scoop to put on your cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 8 minutes.
8. Let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

I'm linking up with Whimsy Wednesday, Create It Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Pin It Thursday, Pin Junkie, Link Party Palooza, Super Saturday, Show Stopper Saturday, Inspiration Monday, and Tasty Tuesdays.