Did you participate in any cookie exchanges this year? These were one of my contributions to my friend/Realtor/LeapPad Explorer Tablet-finding-ninja Brandi’s cookie exchange this weekend.

I love the format of Brandi’s cookie exchange: 24 people show up with 6-dozen cookies, packaged in groups of 3. Everyone comes home with 24 different packages of cookies – a huge sampler perfect for holiday grazing. And man, was there a ton of good stuff this year – chocolate + mint/peppermint was a popular combination!

A twist on an old favorite, The Emergency Cookies, these rich chocolate chunk cookies are spiked with cool Andes baking chips. I actually made these as Peppermint Chocolate Chunk Cookies last year for the exchange. I might be getting predictable 🙂

I personally think that the cookies are better the next day, a cold slab of minty chocolate. Jason likes them melty, after a 5-second trip through the microwave. But we both think they’re perfectly acceptable as breakfast.

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Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Rich, fudgey chocolate chunk cookies spiked with cool Andes mint chunks.

Ingredients

• 16 oz semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped and divided in half
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs, room temp
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Half a 10 oz bag of Andes baking chunks or 1 box Andes mints (4.7 oz), unwrapped and chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment or silpat.
2. Heat half (8 oz) of the chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 25-second increments, stirring in between, until just melted. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
3. In the bowl of your mixer, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until the sugar has completely dissolved (4-5 minutes). Reduce speed to low and add the melted (and now, mostly cooled) chocolate. Mix until uniform. Add the flour mixture until just combined. Mix in the Andes chips (I reserved a tablespoon of the mints to sprinkle over the cookies when they came out of the oven) and remaining chocolate.
4. Let dough sit 10 minutes - this will allow the chocolate to cool and prevent the cookies from spreading.
5. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto baking sheets. The dough should be very stiff and will hold the scooped round. If not, let it sit for a while or stick it in the fridge for 10 minutes. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet still soft in centers, 10 to 12 minutes.
6. Cool on sheets 10 minutes and then transfer to racks to cool completely.
7. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to a week.

Notes

Yields: 24 cookies

Adapted from The Emergency Cookies

Estimated time: 45 minutes