52.1/52 Chocolate Mint Thumbprints

Each Christmas, there has to be at least one cookie with mint, right?

Chocolate Mint Thumbprints

Adapted from Provecho Peru

290 g (2 cups) flour

75 g (2/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

227 g (1 cup) butter, room temperature

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

210 g (1/2 cup) sugar

120 g (3/4 cup) chocolate chips

3 tablespoons (45 g) butter

1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
• Combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
• Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mix and beat until just combined.
• Place 210 g (1/2 cup) sugar in a small bowl. Roll dough into 2.5 cm/1-inch balls, then roll in sugar. Place balls on baking sheets and bake for 8 minutes. Take out of the oven and make a small indentation in the center of each ball. This works best using the bottom of a wooden cooking spoon. Bake cookies for another 5 minutes and let cool.
• Melt the chocolate and butter and add peppermint extract. Let cool a bit, then put into small plastic bad, cut off a tiny corner, and pipe chocolate into 'thumbprints'. Allow chocolate to harden.

My modifications:

I omitted the 1 tablespoon of shortening in the chocolate filling (which didn't cause any problems).

The taste:

Very good! A bit like a brownie cookie with filling.

18/52 Oreo Mint Brownies

Oreos. Mint. Two of my mom's favorites. 

Mint Oreos? She loved them when we brought them back from the States but we can't get them here.

Oreo Mint Brownies? Should be an even better combination that has been waiting on one of my Pinterest boards for a while now, to be made when my mom visits.

She did visit last week. And the Oreo Mint Brownies were made. Especially for her.

Oreo Mint Brownies

Adapted from babble

300 ml (1 cup) vegetable oil

480 g (2 cups) sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla 

4 eggs 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

80 g (2/3 cup) cocoa powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

170 g (1 cup) flour 

25 Mint Oreos (or regular Oreos plus about 10 drops of pure peppermint oil)

100 g (1 cup) mini chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
• Mix together the oil, sugar, vanilla, eggs, baking powder, salt, and flour until combined well.
• Spread the Oreos on the bottom of a greased square pan (23x23 cm or 9x9 in). 

• Pour batter on top of Oreos and sprinkle with chocolate chips.
• Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool before cutting and serving.

My modifications:

I doubled the ingredients because the amounts that the original recipe calls for are not enough for the size of the pan.

As suggested above, I used regular Oreos (or rather: German Oreo imitation cookies) and added about 10 drops of pure peppermint oil. You can usually get the oil at pharmacies or drug stores (for colds).

The taste:

They were good. But not the best brownies I ever made. 

The Oreos on the bottom were nice though. Might try that again with a different brownie batter. 

I also think that Oreo crumbles in the batter would probably be nice, but I am sure that's not a new idea. 

Oh, and the texture was very chewy, soft, runny even. Even though that's what I love about brownies, it might have been a bit too much in this case.

What's your favorite brownie recipe? Are they plain or pimped?