Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookie

Guests arriving to stay at The Carriage House Inn Bed and Breakfast, in Lynchburg, VA, are greeted with home-made cookies in their room upon arrival.  This month our welcome treat cookie is a brownie-like cookie that looks like it has been shattered.  Filled with minty goodness they have been a big hit!

Chocolate-Mint Crackle Cookie

• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon pure mint extract
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

1.  Melt chocolate in heatproof bowl by setting it over a pan of simmering water, (but not touching the heatproof bowl) stirring constantly.  Add the mint to this mixture.

2.  Whisk together flour, baking powder and cocoa in a small bowl.

3.  Whisk together sugar, eggs and melted butter in a medium bowl.  Gradually whisk in melted chocolate and mint extract until smooth (from step 1 above) .  Stir in flour mixture (from step 2 above).  Refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.

4.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Roll tablespoons of dough into balls using your palms, then roll into confectioners’ sugar to coat.  Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing each 1-inch apart.  Bake until slightly firm in the center, about 15 minutes.

5.  Let cool slightly on sheets set on wire racks.  Transfer cookies to racks and let cool completely.

**Dough can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 3 days or rolled into balls and frozen for up to 2 weeks.  Roll in confectioners’ sugar just before baking.

***Store cookies in an air-tight container, at room temperature, for up to 3 days (but they won’t last that long!)

Enjoy!!