Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I've done a couple of posts with my Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and since I had some mint frosting leftover from the Mint Oreo Brownies I made last week, I thought I could make these cookies a bit more festive and turn them into a little St. Patty's day dessert.  And who doesn't love a frosting filled cookie sandwich?  

   

The cookies themselves are delightful...you can absolutely omit the frosting in the middle and eat them as is.  Double chocolate!  Cocoa powder and chocolate chips mixed in.  Very buttery and when left really underdone (as I always do with my cookies), they are super gooey in the middle even after cooling.  

This dough is a bit thicker and doesn't really spread out all that much while cooking.  I used a cookie scoop to place the dough on the baking sheet, then pressed it down slightly with my fingers.  That way I got a thinner, flatter cookie for my sandwiches.  

Makes 3 dozen cookies or 18 sandwiches

Double Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 egg 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the mint buttercream filling

2 cups Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, or store bought

1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract

5-6 drops green food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together; set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg, then add the vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and beat until well blended.  Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.  

Using a cookie scoop, drop the dough onto a cookie sheet (or if using a spoon, it's about 2 tablespoons).

Bake for 8-10 minutes and allow to cool for about 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling, add the peppermint extract to the buttercream frosting, starting with 1 teaspoon.  Add more if desired depending on the strength of your extract.  Add drops of food coloring until a light green color is reached.  Spread frosting on the bottom of one of the cookies, then top with another cookie.  Repeat until there are no more cookies remaining. 

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

How amazing is homemade ice cream?  I typically make mine with half & half (because I always have it in my fridge) instead of heavy cream.  The consistency is a bit more icy than creamy, but that's exactly the way I love it!

This is by far the best tasting ice cream I've made at home so far!  You could also do regular chocolate chip ice cream by leaving out the peppermint extract and the food coloring.  This will be my go-to recipe for ice cream now, making it different by using other flavors or add-ins. 

Makes 2 quarts - serves 8

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2 cups whole milk
2 cups half & half
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
3-4 drops green food coloring (optional)
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, combine everything except the chocolate chips.  Add the food coloring (if using) to get to the color you want.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Set up ice cream maker and pour mixture into the freezer bowl.  Turn the machine on and let stir until thickened, about 20-25 minutes.  About 5 minutes before it's done, add the chocolate chips.  When the ice cream is finished, scoop out into a freezer container and freeze for at least 2 hours before eating.

Peppermint Fudge

My mom makes the best mint fudge.  But, when I asked her for the recipe, she told me she actually uses one bag of mint chocolate chips (not the green ones!) and one bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  And I could not find mint chocolate chips anywhere!  So, I made do with peppermint extract.  Still yummy!  I've made it twice this month... 

The crushed candy canes are optional - I just wanted to make it look festive for the Holidays.  Red and Green sprinkles would be cute, too.

The first time I made it, I only used one bag of chocolate chips and the fudge was too thin for my liking.  The next time, I doubled everything and got these monster bites of fudge (which is exactly what I wanted!).  The recipe can very easily be cut in half.  

Serves 18

 Peppermint Fudge

5 cups chocolate chips
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
4 teaspoons peppermint extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 or 2 candy canes, crushed (optional)

Line a 9 x 9-inch square baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook stirring frequently, until the chocolate is melted.  Remove from heat and immediately stir milk and butter into the chocolate mixture.  Stir in peppermint and vanilla extract.

Pour into the prepared baking dish and refrigerate until set, about 2+ hours. Gently pull up on the sides of the foil to release it from the pan.  Cut the fudge into small squares.  Store covered in the fridge.

*Tip - if yours doesn't really "set" you can store this in the freezer.  When I did the double batch, it never really firmed up and was not so easy to cut straight out of the fridge.  So, I've been keeping it in the freezer and it's prefect!

(Source:  Adapted from Allrecipes.com)

Sweet Tea with Mint

If you live in the south and you don't initally love sweet tea, believe me you will learn to love it.  We've lived here 5 years now and I swear, just last week was the first time I experienced my husband purchasing it from the grocery store!  I've loved it from the beginning, but for him, apparently, it was an acquired taste.  Anyway, I make a pretty darn good sweet tea so I'm so excited to have it around a lot more (so I don't drink it all myself!).  And with an abundance of herbs in our backyard, I couldn't help but add fresh mint to this tea!  It's so incredibly refreshing.   

Makes 2 Quarts

6 tea bags (or 3 family size)

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

In a medium saucepan, combine the water, tea bags and mint.  Bring to a boil, remove from heat and cover.  Let steep for about 15 minutes.  Remove tag bags and mint and pour warm tea into a 2 quart pitcher.  Add sugar and stir.  Fill the rest of the pitcher with cold water (or water and ice).  

                              

Peach Puree with Mint

Even though I am staying at home with my kiddos, I still felt like there was no time for me to make fresh baby food for Max like I did for Jules.  So, my husband and I came up with a plan to make time...like on a Sunday morning, make all the food for that week or even month and just be done!  And that's what I did.  I also took some short cuts like using frozen peaches and peas so I literally had to open the bag, steam and puree.  It takes minutes!!  If you want to use whole peaches, you don't even have to peel them.  Just cut them into slices, steam and the peel with come right off.  Then puree.

I decided with the peaches that I was going to add a little something extra, so I grabbed some mint from our garden.  I just washed it and threw the leaves right into the food processor.  He loved it!  Although he has loved everything so far...he's our big boy and a big eater.  :)  As far as storing, I use those little plastic 1/2 cup Glad containers.  I freeze most of it and put one of them in the fridge for the next couple of days.  It's perfect for portions because Max will eat about 1/4 cup at a sitting.  

Makes 2 cups

1 bag of frozen peaches (or about 4 peaches)

2 mint leaves

Fill a saucepan with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil.  Add peaches and cover, reducing heat to a simmer. Steam for about 5-7 minutes until the peaches are tender.  Put the peaches and mint into a mini food processor (I use the one that came with our immersion blender) and puree until smooth.  

Store in the fridge for up to 3 days or freezer for up to 3 months.