Garden mint & cacao chocolate cookies!

RECIPE

LEARN ABOUT CACAO VS COCOA

GALLERY

If you have ever grown mint in your garden then I am sure you are well aware of how it grows abundantly! Dave's mom planted some mint in a little garden bed a few years ago and it is just begging to be used in every way possible. I came up with this super simple cookie recipe (tweak to my sugar cookie recipe which will be posted soon) to give the fresh mint a tasty way to shine. Since I used fresh mint and not an extract it gives the cookies a subtle mint flavor without being over powering. The chocolate from the cacao is really the star of the show while the mint is more of the backup singer. The two pairs very well together. This cookie is soft, crumbly, and perfect for any season and for any chocolate craving.

Learn about cacao powder:

Cacao powder is different from the regular cocoa powder. While they both come from the cacao bean they are processed differently. The standard cocoa powder that is in most people's kitchens is made from cacao beans that have been roasted and then processed again using a method called Dutch processing to make the cocoa powder more alkaline. This method removes a lot of the nutrients and benefits from chocolate. When you hear someone say, "chocolate is good for you because of the antioxidants" they are referring to the cacao powder. Cacao powder is made from raw cacao beans and is cold pressed. This process keeps the vitamins and minerals from the cacao bean intact making it more beneficial. It is already naturally alkaline which means the Dutch processing can be skipped.

Cacao has been used for over 5,000 years. The Mayans and Aztecs used it for spiritual ceremonies as well as for medicinal properties. I will go into more information about the history, benefits, and details of cacao in a future post. (Be sure to sign up for the newsletter and follow on social media to see new postings) If you haven't ever used cacao before this recipe will be a great one to become acquainted with it; of course if you would prefer to stick with cocoa powder you may do that as well.

Here is a photo of the mint Dave's mom planted. You can see that it is flowering which means the seeds can be harvested and planted in future gardens. I will be sharing this process and more information about mint in a different post.

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Recipe

This recipe is adapted from my super easy sugar cookie recipe (coming soon)

As always we use organic, whole foods based, clean ingredients as much as possible.

Your ingredients are going to make a huge difference in the quality and taste of your recipe.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose organic flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of sea salt

2 sticks of grass fed organic butter at room temperature

(Often, I will use applesauce instead of butter. I haven't tried that in this recipe yet though.

If that is something you would prefer let me know and I will test it)

1 cup of organic sugar

(I will be testing this with coconut sugar next time I make these and I'll update with the results.)

1 egg lightly beaten

1 tsp really good vanilla extract

1/2 cup cacao powder

(see the different between cacao and cocoa powder at the top of the page)

Directions

1. I used a large handful of fresh picked mint from the garden, you can also use store bought fresh mint if you aren't growing any. I haven't tried this recipe with mint extract or dried mint as a replacement, but I'm sure it could be done just keep in mind the flavor is going to be different with those alternatives. With the fresh mint it gives a subtle mint flavor without being over powering.

   Once you have your fresh mint, wash it and pat it dry, remove from large stems.

   Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (We use unbleached parchment)

   (You can add the stems to a glass of water and let sit for a few hours for a refreshing mint water beverage.

   I typically never throw away herbal scraps- they can always be put to work in various ways.)

2. I added the prepared mint leaves to a small ninja chopper. I love using this little kitchen gadget because it makes things like this so much quicker. You can of course use a sharp knife and finely chop your mint. You want the mint leaves to be minced as small as possible to avoid large bits of leaves in the cookies. See photos above for reference.

3. In your wet bowl you will add the butter, egg, sugar, and vanilla then beat with a hand mixer until combined. Toss in your minced mint leaves and fold in with a wooden or large mixing spoon.

4. In your dry bowl you will whisk together the flour, sea salt, baking powder, and cacao powder. Whisk really well.

5. This is where professional bakers make things more complicated than needed. Luckily we are home bakers and have no reason to be professional- I dump the whole bowl of dry ingredients right over the top of the wet ingredients. Use a large mixing spoon ( a spatula is just too flimsy to me) mix until the dough starts coming together. If you are having difficulties you can make sure your hands are cleaned well and use your hands to mix- this is typically what I do because it requires less stirring and you don't want to over mix the dough. Of course you can use kitchen gloves for cleanliness too. Our hands are often the best tools when working with different doughs and more times than not is the way I tend to mix.

6. Once your dough has come together you can either roll it out and use a round cookie cutter, you can roll it all into a log and slice, or roll into similar size balls. My favorite method for this cookie recipe and many others is to roll into balls. This makes it so that the cookies come out a consistent size, to me it is quicker, and half the batch can be frozen, then pulled out and placed on the parchment paper without any fuss or thawing out. With the ball method I put the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes, then I pull them from the oven, pat down one time with the spatula, place back in the oven and bake for 2 minutes. Pull out and let the cookies cool. This gives you a perfect soft cookie. If you prefer a more crunchy cookie you can bake for an additional minute or two. -see photos for reference- These bake times are based off our oven, you may have to adjust according to how yours cook. This is also with fresh dough and not frozen

   
   

   Serve and enjoy I really hope you enjoy this recipe! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see your creations you can email, text, or tag us on social media to show us what you create. Also don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. I will do my best to respond as quickly as I can. CONTACT NAT