Cookie fail?

It started with a bag of mint chocolate chips....

.....and ended with these ugly beasts.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

So, I had never seen these mint chocolate chips in at the grocery store before and thought they sounded intriguing. Mireille was equally intrigued so I decided to make a batch of cookies so she could take them on the plane with her. (Marisa's failed cookies still > plane food). I wanted to make a half chocolate half mint cookie and swirl the chocolate chips in there. I found a couple recipes and gave it a try.

The mint batter turned out ok. It was a nice cookie dough consistancy and I was satisfied with the colour. The chocolate dough is another story.

I was too lazy to wash out the big bowl I had used for the mint dough so I used a slightly smaller bowl that I knew would be just a tad too small for all the dough I was making but oh well. I'm lazy.

The second "strike" (I'm not sure if I mind this so much) was when I grabbed the Ghirardelli container out of the pantry without really reading the label too carefully. I just saw chocolate and figured it was the cocoa powder. It was, in fact, mocha hot chocolate powder. So the chocolate half didn't bake properly because it had too much sugar (and this recipe already has a lot of sugar in it). I still think they are pretty damn tasty, though.

So, I mixed them together and they didn't bake at the same rate and the chocolate mocha half flattened out like a pancake because of the extra sugar while the mint half stayed nice and cookie-y. So, they are very ugly but still pretty tasty. I think I'm going to fiddle around with these more until I find two chocolate and mint cookie recipes that compliment each other nicely and bake well together.

Individually, I wouldn't call these cookies a total fail. If you like really flat cookies that are chewy in the center and crispy around the edge you'll like the chocolate mocha ones. The mint ones are nice and chewy and look more like a good chocolate chip cookie—only green.

CHOCOLATE MOCHA COOKIES

1 1/4 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Ghirardelli Mocha Hot Chocolate powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Cream butter and sugar together with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.

Combine the flour, hot chocolate mix, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture gradually, beating until well incorporated.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet (space well, they flatten and spread out a lot). Bake for 8 - 10 minutes. Remove and let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips

Green food colouring

Preheat oven to 375˚F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer. Add in sugar and baking powder. Beat until fluffy. Beat in egg, extracts and food colouring. Stir in flour until just mixed. Add chocolate chips.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto and ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are set. Remove and let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.