it's all grandma's fault

The first time I can remember eating an Andes mint was at Christmas around 10 or 15 years ago. My grandma had gotten boxes of them for each of us, and I quickly ate my entire box and never looked back.


The box o' Andes became something of a holiday tradition for Grandma and she made them available every year. Sometimes they were special flavors (I fondly recall a toffee crunch version), but they were usually the classic mint. My love for them has never wavered.

What's your point, Grace? Get on with it already! I'll bet you've seen and probably used the creme de menthe baking chips, but did you know there was a batch of peppermint crunch baking chips as well? I had no idea until I found them in our cabinet at home--hooray for happy surprises, right? They were absolutely made for cookies, so cookies were made.


Baked correctly, the end result is a cookie that's crispy along the outer rim but chewy toward the middle--I attribute this amazing phenomenon to the brown-to-white sugar ratio. Incidentally, in my cabinets, both are (and always have been and probably always will be) the Domino Sugar brand. I must pause to thank Domino for sending me a gift card to use toward the purchase of their terrific products and also direct you to their website, where you'll find lots of great gift and recipe ideas for the holidays. Expect to see more to come in the near future.

The mint baking chips provide a smooth but subtle mint flavor (and a lovely smattering of pink) and the chocolate chips are plentiful enough to satisfy even the most ardent chocolate-lover. There's nothing cakelike about these discs, so don't expect it.


Best of all? I can get my Andes fix without raiding Grandma's stash.

Peppermint Crunch Chunkies
(based on this recipe)(these'd perfect for a cookie swap, no?)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup Domino® dark brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup Domino® granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup Andes® Peppermint Crunch baking chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300° F.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add in the baking soda, salt, and then flour; mix completely. Stir in the oats, Andes® Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips, and chocolate chips.
Scoop out round balls about 2 tablespoons in size for large cookies or 1 tablespoon for small cookies. Place on cookie sheets two inches apart.
Bake for 20 minutes for large cookies or 12-15 minutes for small cookies, taking care not to over-bake.