Fudge Mint Morsel Cookies

Cookie exchanges are one of my FAVORITE holiday traditions.  So much food love in one place. When we lived in Iowa, I had some dear friends who hosted a BIG cookie exchange each Christmas season. Their goal was for at least 12 to participate, and everyone brought 12 dozen cookies. So each guest would leave with a dozen each of 12 different kinds of cookies. As a cookie lover, this was the peak of sweet foodie fun for me! 

This year I am taking one of my tried and true treats to a friend's cookie exchange. These used to be called "Bunco Cookies," because I brought them several times to a Bunco group I was in for a few years. I would use chocolate-white chocolate striped chips in and on top of them and they were DIVINE. But those chips are hard to find, so I recently pulled the recipe back out and put regular chocolate chips in the dough, and melted an Andes mint on top when I pulled them out of the oven. WOW! Instant love. 

So whether you are making cookies for a gift exchange, a party, Bunco, or to enjoy with your family, these will be a surefire hit!  Soft, fudgey cookies with lightly crisped edges and a coating of minty chocolate on top.

Fudge Mint Morsel Cookies

Makes 4 dozen

Ingredients

1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 1/4 cups flour (all-purpose or whole wheat work)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 cup chocolate chips

48 Andes Mints, unwrapped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment, silpat or cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

3. Beat butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Gradually stir flour mixture into wet mix.  Stir in chocolate chips. 

4. Drop by heaping, rounded teaspoons (I use a 1/2 oz cookies scoop) onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 7-8  minutes--no longer. Cookies will be soft when you pull them out.

5. Place 1 Andes mint onto each cookie within 1 minute of pulling them out of the oven. Let them sit 2-3 minutes, then spread the melted Andes with the back of a spoon using a small circular motion. Carefully remove to cool and allow topping to set.  Store in an air-tight container. 

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Perfect! Whole Wheat Ginger Cookies

I chose the word "perfect" to describe these cookies for good reason.  I can honestly say I wouldn't change a single thing about how these turned out. I made a second batch, just to be sure.  

Lightly crispy edges and chewy, soft insides make these delicious (and because they are 100% whole wheat--nutritious!) cookies unsurpassed. This will be a new go-to recipe, especially during the fall and winter months when ginger, cinnamon and cloves smell so warm and comforting. You can unplug that scented wax warmer while making these babies. Your house will smell AMAZING!

One thing that is unique about this ginger cookie recipe, is it doesn't call for molasses. I love molasses cookies, but I don't always have it on hand. What I do always have around is maple syrup. I decided to put maple syrup in the recipe and couldn't be more pleased with the results!  

Perfect Whole Wheat Ginger Cookies

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (all-purpose works)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup 

1 egg

1/4 cup granulated sugar (for rolling)

Dash of ginger, cinnamon, cloves (for rolling)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Spray or line cookie sheets.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda salt and spices.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and brown sugar. Add maple syrup and egg, beating well.  Pour in flour mixture and stir well. Dough will be thick. 

4. In a small bowl, stir granulated sugar with a dash of each of the spices. Using a medium cookie scoop or tablespoon, make 1-inch cookie dough balls. Roll each ball in sugar, and place 3 inches apart on cookie sheets. 

5. Bake 9 minutes, or until very light brown on edges. Middles should rise, but still look un-done when you remove the cookies from the oven. Wait 2-3 minutes to remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. The cookies will flatten as they cool, and firm up so they hold together nicely. Store in an air-tight container.

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Candy-Dipped Ginger Thins

My kids were invited to a cookie exchange down the street. I LOVE cookie exchanges, and apparently my kids have inherited this trait (crazy as it seems--who likes cookies?!?), because they were all excited to participate--from the toddler to the teenager.  

Then it dawned on me, I would be making A LOT of cookies for this event. It is no secret that I enjoy baking. But this has been a busy week, and having the required 160 cookies (4 different kinds) ready was causing me a bit of stress....

But then while walking through Costco yesterday, I had a light bulb appear above my head, along with  a mysterious "Ding!" 

Costco is currently carrying boxes of Annas Ginger Swedish Thins. Each box costs about $7 and has over 260 cookies.  And they are melt-in-your mouth yummy. I decided to buy these and just dress them up a bit! 

All you need for this delicious cookie exchange hack is:

• Annas Ginger Swedish Thins
• Candy for dipping (I used Ghiradelli's White Chocolate, Hershey's Cinnamon Chips, and Ghiradelli's Semi-sweet Chocolate chips)
• Household Paraffin (optional--It helped with the Cinnamon Chips not getting thick when they were melting).
• Toppings to sprinkle on the dipped cookies while still hot: crushed candy canes, chopped roasted pecans, sliced almonds, coconut, candy sprinkles
• Wax paper

Directions:

1. Follow the directions for melting on the candy coating you are using's package. I have the most luck with the double-boiler method, but I've used the microwave as well (with mixed results--the microwave seems to go from under- to over-cooked in less than 3 seconds). 

2. Dip cookies one at a time in the melted coating. Set on wax paper and sprinkle immediately with topping.  Cool. Store in air-tight container.

Here are the white chocolate with crushed candy cane variety. I crushed about 4 candy canes (which was more than enough). After unwrapping, I broke the candy canes up in a glass bowl. Then I used the bottom of a small, sturdy glass jar to crush them in the bowl (like a mortar and pestle).

I had cookies made for two of my kids (the other two were covered) to bring to the exchange in less than an hour. And they even helped! I even made extra to put away for our Christmas festivities! 

These are the ones I dipped in melted cinnamon chips. They are sprinkled with roasted, salted pecans. Mmmm...

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