MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Happy Wednesday! Who is ready to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day this weekend!?! There's a huge festival here in Columbia.  It's so much fun because they dye the fountains green, everyone's walking around with green beers in hand, and they have live music all day.  They also have a kid zone with bouncy houses and game.  It's definitely a lot of fun for the family! To celebrate the festivities I decided to make these mint chocolate chip cookies. If you don’t know this about me, I love chocolate chip cookies. I mean to be honest I don’t just love them, I’m obsessed with them! They are my absolute favorite cookie in the world. No exaggerating there! I am always looking for different yummy versions of them. I’ve baked quite a few over the years (see here, here, and here) and I’m still not quite sure what my favorite one is but they’ve all been delicious in their own ways. I was looking for something fun to do for St. Pats and came across these on Pinterest. I didn’t have all the ingredients from the original recipe but to be honest I think these came out exactly how I would’ve wanted them to taste. The peppermint flavor mixed in with the chocolate chips is so incredible! Here’s the recipe if you want to try them out for yourself.

Ingredients

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened

1 and 1/2 cups sugar 

2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk 

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (or more to taste) 

10-15 drops green food coloring 

3 cups all-purpose flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon cream of tartar 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3/4 bag of chocolate chips, plus extra for on top 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl or stand, beat together the butter and sugar.  After a minute scrape sides and bottom of bowl and continue mixing. Do that twice then keep mixing until mixture is light and fluffy.  
3. Add the eggs + yolk, peppermint extract, and food coloring. 
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and combine until the flour is incorporated.
5. Take about a 1/4 cup and roll into a ball. Place on cookie sheet. Using the palm of your hand press the dough down slightly and top with more chocolate chips.
6. Place them on the cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes, or until slightly starting to brown on the edges. 
8. Let cool 5 minutes on the pan, then remove to a cooling rack.

Recipe adapted from the Food Charlatan