I came into the Holiday baking season craving chocolate chip cookies, which had me scanning the candy aisle for a Holiday inspired alternative, red and green M&Ms? boring. Candy canes? no chocolate.  Truffles? melty mess.  And so it went, until I happened upon the Andes Mints… Chocolate? Crème de menthe? I can work with that.  This is one of those recipes, that now that I’ve tried it, and know that the flavor combinations work, I’d like to try it out with some nicer crème de menthe or peppermint flavored chocolate bars.  I encourage you to give it a shot.  It’s like Girl Scout’s Thin Mint Cookies, but with more buttery goodness and less of the processed flavor.  If you’re a chocolate and mint lover, you are going to be happy with this one!

Recipe makes 3 dozen small cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter (room temp)
• 1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening (room temp)
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• a few rasps of fresh Nutmeg
• 2 1/2 cups regular Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup chopped up Crème de Menthe Chocolate

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars.
3. Beat in the eggs.
4. Beat in the vanilla, nutmeg, and salt.
5. Add in the flour and baking powder.  Continue to mix until fully combined.
6. Stir in the chocolate.
7. Scoop the dough out onto parchment lined baking sheets – about 1 tbsp of dough per cookie.
8. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies are no longer shiny.  They might be slightly puffy and soft when you pull them out, but they will sink down and solidify as they cool.