Mint Condition Cookies

It was my dear friend Sara's birthday on Tuesday.  Sara lives all the way out in Washington state.  :(  One of Sara's favorite things in the world is a Mint Condition from Caribou.  Mint + chocolate + coffee = happy Sara.  One of the bummers about living in Washington (aside from being far away from friends and family) is that there are no Caribous.  Poor Sara.  So for her birthday I wanted to send her something to remind her of home - aka a Mint Condition.  I figured the good ol' USPS probably would not approve of me sending a cup of coffee through the mail, so I decided the next best thing was to make a mint condition in cookie form. 

Sidenote:  Why do people always take pictures of their baked goods in mugs?  When's the last time you ever used a mug to serve cookies?  But, I'm nothing if not a band-wagon joiner, so enjoy the cookies-in-a-mug picture.

I combined a bunch of different recipes and here's what I ended up with:

Mint Condition Cookies:

• 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• dash of salt
• 1 cup Andes Mints baking pieces (or other mint chips)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375.
2. Dissolve the coffee granules in the milk.  Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars.
4. Add the coffee mixture, melted chocolate and eggs.
5. Add the flour, baking soda and salt.
6. Stir in the mint and chocolate chips.
7. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

They were pretty darn good!  You could also drizzle a little chocolate over the cookies when they're cool....mmmmm.  Enjoy!