Oh my

As the kids and I were in the store today, Little Man spotted a bag of Andes Baking Chips, you know, the mint chocolate kind.  Well, since I had just seen an episode of Giada's show where she made these incredible double chocolate cookies with mint chocolate chips, I was game.  Little man threw them in the cart and I made the cookies pretty much as soon as we walked into the house!  Let me tell you, these are amazing.  Just be sure you have a large glass of milk on hand, these babies are rich!

Here is the link to Giada's recipe.  Below is my version of the recipe, which is doubled and adjusted for high altitude.

Ingredients

• 12 oz of chocolate chips
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups flour
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/3 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• One 10-ounce bag of Andes mint chocolate baking chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325º F. Line your baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips and butter. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, 2 tablespoons water and vanilla extract. Gradually add the dry ingredients. Fold in the cooled chocolate. Stir in the chocolate mint pieces. Chill the dough 10 minutes to firm slightly. Drop cookies by the rounded spoonful on to the cookie sheet.  Give them some space, they will spread.  I was able to get 8 on each sheet.

Bake the cookies 12 minutes. Bake until the cookies are slightly puffed and dry looking with some small cracks on top, but don't let them over bake.  Cool the cookies completely on sheets (they may deflate slightly as they cool).