Chocolate and Mint

It is starting to feel like Christmas around here. I am still wearing a light coat outside and I haven’t broke out the gloves and hats just yet, but, I am looking forward to the cold. Ask me again in February.

Recently, I started to have this bizarre craving. Chocolate and peppermint. I don’t know if the holiday season is helping with this craving but the other day I just had to have it. This morning, I informed David that I was in the mood to bake cookies and so I took my recent craving and my desire to bake cookies and I smashed them together. The result is a delicious treat to eat with a hot drink and watch a Christmas movie.

After Eight Sandwich Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour, extra for rolling
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 packages of After Eights

1. Blend together butter and sugar until well mixed. Add in egg and vanilla and mix.
2. Slowly mix in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Switch to a spoon to prevent your mixer from burning out.
3. When the dough is well mixed, refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350F/175C.
5. Divide the dough in half. Working with one half, roll the dough out to 3mm thick. Use a little flour to prevent sticking to your workspace. Cut the dough into squares the size of an After Eight. Continue until all of the dough is used.
6. Place squares onto a non stick sheet pan. The cookies will not spread very much so you can fill a lot on a pan. Bake 12 minutes.
7. Let cool for 3 minutes. Working quickly, sandwich the After Eight candies in between two cookies making sure to firmly pinch them shut.
8. Enjoy.

These are the perfect amount of chocolate and mint for me. If you are not a fan of mint, these cookies can easily be filled with whatever candy, jam, or frosting that you like. Yum.