Freeze-n-bake Cookies

Hubs loves chocolate chip cookies more than anything.  Well besides, you know, his loving wife that makes them from scratch for him.  And his adorable son.  And Jumbo.  But that's it, he loves chocolate chip cookies more than anything other than us.  (Sorry Poose.)

Mmmm, minty...

I love cookies, but I do feel the need to change them up every once in a while.  The clearance rack at the grocery store had some mint and chocolate nibs for $0.84 a bag after Christmas, so I nabbed a crap ton of them.  And I thought they'd be good with chocolate cookies.  So we gave it a whirl.

Whisk butter with sugar and brown sugar until thoroughly mixed.  Someday I'll find a delicious cookie recipe that doesn't use more than a stick of butter for a batch.  But it is not this day.  Seriously, I just found one that calls for TWO and a half sticks of butter.  Geez!

As you may note, I am using a whisk in this recipe.  Because my arms need some toning.  Alright, so I don't have a mixer, hand held or otherwise.  Someday I'll get that big, beautiful stand mixer...  Anyway, this recipe is not difficult to do by hand, so no worries if you don't have one.  Just make sure your butter is very soft.

Add cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt, until mixture is well blended and kind of crumbly.

Mix in eggs,  vanilla extract, and vegetable oil.  Throw as many of the chips in the mix as you would like.  I did about 1 1/2 cups, because I wanted to have leftover chips, but most cookie recipes call for a whole bag.  

Try not to eat ALL of it raw.

This makes a pretty substantial batch of cookies.  So if you like, line a small baking sheet with tin foil, scoop them out just like you would for baking, and toss it in the freezer for a while.  I use my Food Saver to zip about 5 at a time together.  Just enough for Hubs and I to split as a night time snack.  A zipper bag would work too, especially since they're so tasty, there's not much chance of them sitting in the freezer for months and months.

Bake at 350 for 10ish minutes, depending on how done you like your cookies.  I like my cookies like I like my sushi, so it doesn't take long for me!  

If you like andes mints, you'll dig these babies.  Sandwich some ice cream between two of them and you'll have heaven at your fingertips.  Plus it's nice to have snacks on hand that are made from scratch.  Mmmm!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
-1 1/2 sticks of butter, room temperature
-3/4 C granulated sugar
-3/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
-2/3 C cocoa powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-4 tbsp vegetable oil
-1 1/2 C or more mint chocolate chips

1.  Mix butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy.  Add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until crumbly.
2.  Add eggs, vanilla, and vegetable oil.  Stir until the batter becomes smooth.  Add chocolate chips.
3.  Spoon cookie dough onto baking sheet and bake at 350 for 8-15 minutes.

To Freeze-n-bake
1.  Spoon batter onto tin-foil lined baking sheet (or a plastic plate) and freeze for about an hour, or until the cookie dough becomes firm.
2.  Place in zipper bags or vacuum seal bags.  Label and toss in freezer.
3.  To bake, preheat oven to 375.  Place frozen cookies on baking sheet and bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until cookies reach desired consistency.  Enjoy!

Now you too can be a Domestic God(dess).  Scratch made cookies at a moments notice!