Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies

It's a heart!

My sweetie loves mint and chocolate together, so I made him these cookies for Valentine's Day.  I should say he LET me make them as I had already made 2 other sweets this weekend.  Regardless, he's happy to eat them!  The cookie recipe is from WithSprinklesonTop.net- one of my favorite sites that my friend Crystal at work turned me on to.  Her pictures are something to strive for, that's for sure.
Thanks to Karen for the Andes Mint Pieces.


Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from:
Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies (Source: Two Peas & Their Pod)
Found on Withsprinklesontop.net

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp chocolate extract (I have this on hand so I threw it in...yum!  Find it at the Willy St. Co-op)
1/3 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 bag of Andes Mint Pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa, and set aside.
3. Beat the butter on medium-high until light and add sugars, creaming well.
4. Add the vanilla and beat until smooth.
5. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternately with the milk in one batch, mixing well.
6. Stir in the Andes pieces.
7. Chill dough for at least 15 minutes. (You can make the dough a few hours or 2 days before baking and it will be fine. Just wrap it up and keep in the fridge.)
8. Scoop the dough onto the cookie sheet, press down on them slightly, and bake for 14-15 minutes.
9. Let the cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet, they will set as they cool.  Cookies will stay fresh for two days in an air-tight container.

Notes:
- I used a teaspoon measuring spoon to scoop dough, then rolled into balls and flattened slightly in my palm before placing on cookie sheet.
- Cookies were very gooey when they came out of the oven, so let them cool completely on the sheet.  They set up nicely.