I am one of those people who doesn’t believe mint should exist outside the realm of breath fresheners. I love some mint in my toothpaste and gum (and oddly enough, I love York peppermint patties), but I really can’t handle mint in anything else. So, of course, I married a man who loves minty desserts. I’m afraid that I will never truly be a Ringer because I refuse to eat peppermint ice cream.
Needless to say, the husband was thrilled when I was assigned mint cookies as today’s 12 days of Christmas cookies challenge. I considered simply leaving out the mint flavoring (so that I would want to eat the cookies too), but Eric insisted that the mint was necessary. So as a testament of my love for my husband, I made a mint dessert today. And from what I hear, the cookies tasted really good.
These are super simple and even allow some room for creativity (sprinkles! food coloring! cut-out shapes!), so if you’re a fan of mint, give these a go.
Melissa d’Arabian’s Delicate Mint Sandwich Holiday Cookies
recipe from Food Network
cookies:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
colored sugars, such as green, blue, red, silver and white (I used red and white)
mint filling:
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 or 2 drops mint extract
1 or 2 drops red or green food coloring
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until smooth using a mixer in a medium bowl. Add the flour slowly, mixing on low, until incorporated. Scoop the dough into a ball using your hands and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the dough has firmed slightly, about 30 minutes.
On a floured surface, roll the dough about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out as many rounds as possible with a small cookie cutter and transfer to ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between each cookie. Re-roll the dough scraps and repeat until all the dough is used. Use a smaller cutter, about 3/4-inch, or cut freehand with a small sharp knife to punch a small window out of half of the cookies. Place the cutouts on the baking sheets and sprinkle all the cookies and cutouts with the colored sugars.
Bake until golden around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
For the filling: Place the sugar, butter, mint extract, food coloring and 1/2 teaspoon of water in a medium bowl and beat on medium speed until well combined and fluffy. Spread a thin layer of mint filling on the cookies without the windows and place the wafers with the windows on top.
Be sure to check out Becca’s drool-worthy rendition of Paula Deen’s loaded oatmeal cookies over at One Many Extras!
-Ally
[…] As of today we are all caught up on Christmas cookies! Looks like we might stay in the “Finish By December 25th” deadline. Today was Ally’s turn with Melissa d’Arabian’s Delicate Mint Sand which Holiday Cookie (by the way, how many more adjectives can we cram in one recipe name?).Gawk over the perfect-prettiness over on her blog. […]