12 days of christmas cookies: day 04

yesterday my mom graduated from nursing school. 2nd career at age 50...yeah mom! you're an inspiration! so after graduation we decided to throw a little party to celebrate. in preparation for the party, i made three different cookie recipes - one of them being these peppermint mocha chocolate chip cookies (above). i rushed over to my parents house, baked for three hours, and then helped set up for the party. with the table set up and the cookies laid out, i left for work. now, my parents have two dogs... one precious bichon named kira, and then a large lab named max. within ten minutes of leaving, i got a call from my mom.... she'd found max dining on top of the kitchen table and... every.single.cookie. was gone. all of them!! three hours worth of baking gone in ten minutes!! ooooooh, i was so upset. and i swear i went through all the stages of grief: denial..."no, no, no, mom...you're confused. the cookies are still there." anger. goooosh, i was steaming. "how could he do that!?" well...he's a dog. that's how. depression..."whyyyyy!? i worked so hard." i could have cried. i almost did cry. a sweet coworker tried to cheer me up. and then, acceptance. what could we do? they were gone. so mom headed to the store and replaced all of my homemade cookies with store bought ones. so in the end, the show went on...homemade cookies, or not.

moral of the story: never leave cookies (especially peppermint mocha chocolate chip cookies) in a kitchen unattended when there is a dog around.

peppermint mocha chocolate chip cookies

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. instant coffee powder
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
• 1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp. milk

preheat the oven to 350 F. mix together the first 7 ingredients in a mixing bowl [flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, coffee powder, cornstarch]. in a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a hand mixer. add the egg, peppermint extract and vanilla extract. pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until fully combined. dough will be thick, so add 2 tbsp. milk to make the mixing easier.

roll the dough out into 2 in. thick balls and place on the baking sheet. bake at 350 F for 9 minutes. remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes before transferring.

enjoy immediately, or store for later. whatever you do, just keep them away from your dog...

happy friday!