Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Mint Chocolate Chips....

Baking this week got me wondering where folks go now for recipes?
                                       Block for a table runner I am working on but doubt I'll have ready for Christmas!
It used to be they were traded on little cards.  You would get them from friends or relatives.

Who most likely got them from friends, relatives, coworkers, newspapers, magazines or cookbooks.

Now I think most folks go to the internet.  I know I use Land-O'Lakes butter's site often and Pintrest occasionally.  To be honest I still like to use the old recipes best.  Last night I tried two new cupcake recipes, both from the internet, and only liked one.  The banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from www.twopeasandtheirpod.com came out really good.  Only down side was lots of extra frosting but that is partly due to my not liking lots of frosting on my cakes.  The second "experiment" was a mini-chocolate chip cupcake from Ghirardelli...don't think I'll make them again.  They weren't so bad I didn't send them into work with my DH but not my best....

So for the rest of the season I will stick with the tried and true....like my Chocolate Mint Snowtops (recipe to follow.)  This recipe is in my family's cookbook that we put together a few years ago.  We attributed it to my cousin Barbara.  When she saw it was she surprised!  "Are they any good?" she asked.  When we told her they were a favorite she said "then of course they are mine!"  In reality she doesn't ever remember making them!  It may be that the Barbara on the recipe card was a friend of on of my sisters...we'll never know!

Chocolate Mint Snowtops 

1-1/2 cups flour
1 10-ounce package mint chocolate chips (I use Hershey's)
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
6 Tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
confectionery sugar

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt then set aside.

Over hot water, melt 1 cup of mint morsels.  Stir until smooth.  In a large blow, beat sugar and butter until creamy.  Add melted mint morsels and vanilla.  Beat in eggs then gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in remaining 1/2 cup mint morsels.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Roll in confectionery sugar.  Place on un-greased cookie sheet (I use parchment since it make cleaning so much easier!)  Bake 10-12 minutes.  Let stand 5 minutes on cookie sheet.  Cool.  Makes 4-5 dozen

Store in an airtight container.  If the cookies get hard put a piece of bread in the container for a few hours and they will soften up.  (Do not store these cookies with other cookies...the mint flavor will transfer!)

13 comments:

Gypsy Quilter said...

Dolly and I will be right over to test these. We're the official cookie testers for 2012. I'll bring the milk! Ummmm

Impera Magna said...

I still have my recipe box... as well as those of my mother and best friend. It's sad that I no longer browse through them... however, I have posted quite a number of the old family recipes online where they are easier to find for me... and to share with others.

joyceinsc said...

Love your blog! Keep posting.

joyceinsc said...

Love your blog! Keep posting.

Jeanne said...

The baking looks delicious. I can almost smell it here. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Your Easy Street units are looking good, too.

Janet O. said...

My friend who was a caterer, died 1 1/2 years ago. She always shared her recipes freely. Earlier this year I put together a collection of all of her recipes that I could gather from her friends. I refer to it often. Then I use my own box of recipe cards. But when I need a new recipe, I admit I go online more often than not.
Thanks for the Snowtop recipe. Looks great. I will give it a try!

Paula, the quilter said...

I, too, have all the family recipes. Since I live at high altitude, I have to be careful of baked recipes that I snag from online, because most of them are for lower altitude and will turn out yucky if I don't adjust either the amount of liquid, the amount of flour, or the baking time, or the phase of the moon or humidity... you know what I mean. *smile*

Mary Ellen said...

Your recipe says to add the eggs, but I don't see eggs listed in the ingredients. Thought I would try them out, but need to know how many eggs? Thanks!

Me and My Stitches said...

I still use my recipe box too. I have been trying a lot of recipes from Pinterest but always try them out to see if we like it, before I write them on a recipe card to keep!

Judy in Michigan said...

My SIL's last name is Breen. Maybe "we" (or you and Mark) are related? Will try your cookies!

Judy in Michigan said...

My SIL's last name is Breen. Maybe "we" (or you and Mark) are related? Will try your cookies!

Sherrill said...

Ha! That's one way to get out of it in case it's not a good recipe! I use allrecipes.com all the time--good because they're rated by lots of other people (tho that's not always 100%).

Marie said...

These cookies sound delicious - I'll have to see if I can find mint chocolate chips - I don't recall seeing them on the shelves. Have fun doing your Christmas baking - I love it!