Better Homes & Gardens: Christmas Cookies, 2009
Mint Crinkles
It’s always exciting when the Christmas Cookie magazines begin appearing on the grocery store racks. You may be tempted to buy all of them, but you should always take a good browse through the magazine to make sure there are some creative new additions and not just your standard recipes that re-appear every year. This one seemed to have some new ideas, and all cookies had beautiful, enticing photos, so it successfully lured me into buying it.
Most of the cookies on the cover are bright and colorful. They stuck a couple of chocolate varieties on there too. I chose to make the Mint Crinkles. They’re a basic cookie recipe that transforms into chocolate mint with the help of melted Andes mints. They’re rolled into balls and then baked. Chopped up mints are sprinkled onto the cookies in the last minute of baking.
Mint Crinkles
Source: Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Cookies, 2009
ingredients:
3/4 cup Andes mint chocolate and mint pieces (or 24 candies chopped finely)
1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
additional Andes mint pieces, or finely chopped candies
1. In a heavy small saucepan, heat and stir the 3/4 cup candy pieces until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool for about 15 minutes.
Yield: 30-36 cookies.
To store: Layer cookies between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to 24 hours or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes from Culinary Covers:
“My cookies never “crinkled.” I didn’t really have a problem with that, but they didn’t look like the crinkly cookies on the cover of the magazine.
*I used two boxes of the Andes mints (Wishing to have plenty for sprinkling on top of the cookies, and wishing to have plenty left over for nibbling while baking).
*It’s not very convenient to try and sprinkle the cookies with the mints in the last minute of baking. The heat from the oven is pouring onto you and into your kitchen, and you have to be rather careful not to burn your fingers while sprinkling or spill the chopped mints onto the baking sheet.
*If you’re a fan of the Andes mints, you’ll love the taste of this cookie. I found it tough to stop at tasting two cookies. They’re rather addicting.
Did this recipe deserve the cover? I don’t think so. They were really, really good, DELICIOUS cookies, but are they pretty enough for a cover? Of all of the beautiful cookies in this cookie collection magazine, I’m not sure I’d have chosen this one to don the cover. In my opinion, Christmas covers should showcase the most festive looking cookies around.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
While those treats look delicious, I 100% agree that they aren’t “Christmas treat cover”-worthy.
Ditto. I’m looking for something really different on a Christmas cookie cover.
Maybe not cover-worthy, but definitely worth making. Did you know you can buy the Andes mints already chopped? They’re just right for cookie baking!
I love chocolate and mint together so this definitely goes on my to try list! Thanks for the honest review. Your cookies look fantastic but I understand what you mean about not choosing them for the cover.
These are so pretty! I bet they were extremely popular, delicious