Double chocolate mint cookies

You know a cookies is good when you hear people talking about it behind your back. I even heard someone say they're better than his wife's cookies, and she's the cookie queen.

I'm not a big chocolate and mint person. I don't hate the combo, it's just never something that I seek out. I know people who save Thin Mints in their freezer to eat throughout the year. If I never ate another Thin Mint in my life, I wouldn't miss it. So I was going to bake these cookies with the mint, but then my friend Lisa baked a similar batch and said she got rave reviews, so I decided to forge ahead.

They are really good cookies. They have a crunch on the outside and they're chewy on the inside. There's just enough mint so that when you bite into it, you know what you're getting, but not so much as to be overwhelming. Actually, they taste like a chewy Thin Mint, but with better chocolate.

I think they'd be great as ice cream sandwiches. I'll have to try that later this summer.

Double Chocolate Mint cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped*
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped*
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
Melt chocolates with the butter in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir to combine until all the chocolate is melted. Let cool slightly.

Beat the chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, vanilla and peppermint in the bowl of an electric mixer or a handheld mixer. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.

Wrap in plastic wrap and let chill for 45 minutes or more.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a small ice cream scoop, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. If you don't have a small scoop, just make sure they're roughly the size of a golf ball. Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 9 minutes. Let cool on parchment on wire racks.

*You can use whatever kind of chocolate you like in these cookies and I think they'd still turn out excellent. I had semisweet chips and a bar of 71% dark bittersweet chocolate here, so that's what I used.