Chocolate Mints Puddles

I love Andes mints. Ever since I was a kid and was first introduced to them by my grandparents (who always had a stash waiting for me in their candy drawer!), to now as an adult somehow always finding a bag of their baking chips mysteriously appearing in my shopping cart….I absolutely love these little chocolate mints!

So when I recently saw this recipe for “Chocolate Mint Puddles” here and here, which features an entire delicious mint per cookie, I figured these would be right up my ally. So I whipped up my first batch this week for the Kansas City Food Bloggers’ Cookie Exchange. (Although I admit I realized as they were in the oven that it might not have been the best idea to test out a brand new recipe on a group of food bloggers – eeks.) But thankfully they ended up being a total success!!

Favorite part? Definitely the “puddle”-making. Loved swirling the melted mints into cute designs. (This would be a great project for kids in the kitchen!)

Not-so-favorite part? The process for making the cookies, which involved melting chocolate and refrigerating the dough for an hour before cooking. They still tasted great, but I think next time I’ll make the cookies with this simpler dough recipe.

Still, a wonderful cookie for anyone who loves Andes! I will definitely be making these again very soon. :)

Chocolate Mint Puddles Recipe
(Adapted from AllRecipes)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 (4.5 oz) packages Andes mints

Method:

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter with sugar and water, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips, mixing until melted. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before pouring chocolate into a bowl and beating in eggs, one at a time.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll cookie dough into small balls and place on cookie sheets, approximately 2 inches apart.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. After removing cookie sheet from oven, press a mint into each cookie and allow to sit for one minute, melting slightly. (If the mints don’t melt enough — as mine didn’t — feel free to pop the cookies with the mints on top back in the oven for an extra 30 seconds to soften the chocolate.)

Then, using a toothpick, swirl the melted mint to make a pattern. Allow to cool before serving.

Ali’s Tip:

The small Andes baking chips (rather than the full-size Andes mints) would also work with well with this! Just add 1 teaspoon of the baking chips to the center of each cookie.

Pumpkin and Chocolate Marbled Bundt Cake

Looking for a way to use some of that leftover pumpkin puree, or perhaps you didn’t get quite enough pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, even still, you may just be a true pumpkin lover, but even if you aren’t, this cake is delicious for dessert, parties or just because on a cold night.

It’s even the perfect cake to drop off on a friend’s doorstep just because they could use a hug or a hand or a piece of delicious cake. Jamie from My Baking Addiction should know, since that’s exactly what she did. And right now, if you’re a blogger yourself, you head to Jamie’s site to enter the holiday recipe exchange for the next 24 hours. This weeks theme has been chocolate, and there are some fantastic recipes to explore there as well.

And Jamie, thank you for being that friend with the cake during a time when I needed all those things: friends, cakes, a helping hand.

Pumpkin and Chocolate Marbled Bundt Cake adapted from My Recipes

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup buttermilk
Chocolate glaze (below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and butter a 12-cup Bundt cake pan. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add in eggs one at a time, beating after each egg. Add in vanilla and mix. Separate the batter into two bowls.

In one bowl beat in the pumpkin mixture. Stir together 1 ¾ cups of the flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt and the pumpkin pie spice. Add flour to the bowl and mix just until incorporated. In a separate bowl mix together 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt and the cocoa powder and then add to the second mixing bowl and mix just until blended.

Spoon half of the batter into a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt cake pan. Drop the chocolate batter into the pumpkin. Repeat by spooning pumpkin and chocolate until all batter is used. Run a butter knife through the cake mixture center of the pan several times. Then swirl by running the knife the other way in strokes 10 or so times around the entire pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 to 60 minutes. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before inverting and releasing the cake. Cover with warm chocolate glaze and allow to sit until glaze is set.

Chocolate Glaze
4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon maple syrup

In a double boiler, add chocolate, cream, butter and maple syrup. Melt and mix. Pour over warm cake.