Culinary Alchemy: Crème de la Crème - Andes Crème de Menthe Cookies

I was thinking the other day that I really needed to work on another cookie post. Cookies are not necessarily my forte, but Christmas is coming soon, which means cookie season is around the corner. Yeppers, a big plate of miscellaneous cookies is an excellent thing to have lying around during the holiday season (Chocolate truffles will be a later post) and cookies always make great edible gifts as well. I mean... WHO doesn't love cookies?

So this half-baked idea of writing another cookie post has been bouncing around in my head for about a week. Fast forward to last night... I was meandering through Safeway when spied the display for Andes mints. They were on sale. I use to love them when I was a kid, but not so much anymore. However... Next to the display was one of those mail in rebate coupons stating "If you buy 2 you can mail in the receipt and the UPC labels and receive a coupon for a free box". I thought that was pretty cool, and decided to grab a couple boxes, along with the coupon for the mail in offer.... I figured they would make great stocking stuffers for the kids.

Then Lo and Behold!! on the back of the mail in offer was a cookie recipe for Andes Surprise Pillow Cookies. Hmmmmmmmmmmm interesting... Even though cookies are not my strong suit, I adore any cookie that has something deliciously yummy inside... Like Sprytes Rolo Cookies or the Barry White Cookies that were a spin off of Spryte's Rolo Cookies... Then there were the Peanut Butter Cup Cookies... Oh yeah! Good Stuff..

So I decided to give them a whacky whirl and see how they came out. Won't lie to ya, after following their directions, I am already trying to figure out a better way to do it... Moving the second sheet of dough over the first (you will see what I am talking about) is a pain in the buttocks. Other than that, the cookies were quite delicious.... even though I no longer care for those mints.

But I know a certain niece that will be EXTREMELY happy when I take her some tomorrow. She adores Crème de Menthe Pie, so I am positive that she will love these cookies. So while she is happily chomping down on little pillows of deliciousness, I will be bottling my first serious attempt at making Beer (and yes, that post is forthcoming. I still have 127 photos to finish editing... whew!) LOL

Andes Crème de Menthe Cookies

(Andes Surprise Pillow Cookies)

1 cup (8 oz) (227 g) Unsalted Butter
1 cup (7 oz) (197 g) Granulated Sugar
3 cups (15 oz) (425 g) AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 Large Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
49 Andes Mints (2 boxes)

Before you begin, it's a good idea to prep the mints... This means a lot of tedious unwrapping. I suppose you could use them as is, but I don't think the wrapper would be particularly tasty.
So unwrap 49 of the mints.

This will leave you with 7 for your own consumption (one of the benefits of being the chef)

OK, now that the mints are taken care of, let's make some cookies; Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and, like most cookie recipes, you need to start by creaming the Butter and Sugar until light and fluffy.

While the butter and sugar are creaming, whisk the Flour, Baking Powder and Salt together in a small bowl and set aside.

Add the Egg to the Butter/Sugar mixture and beat again, until fully emulsified.

Add Vanilla and mix again.

Now begin adding the Flour mixture to the Butter/Sugar/Eggs and mix until a soft dough is formed.

I found that the dough was climbing the beaters, so I went ahead and mixed the flour in by hand with a spatula.

It worked just fine, but it takes a little more elbow grease than the mixer does.

Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces (about 445g each)

Roll out the first piece of dough on a well floured surface into a 14 x 9 rectangle.

Begin laying out the mints in 7 rows of 7.

Making sure they are as evenly spaced as possible.

Then roll out the remaining half of the dough, using a piece of parchment so you can move it later, into a 14 x 9 rectangle.

Very carefully, move the resulting sheet over to the minted sheet and lay it down over the top. (this was the hard part I was talking about, cause the dough breaks REALLY easy)