Double Chocolate-Mint Cookies with Chocolate Frosting

If someone told me to name my favorite ice cream flavor, I'd probably say mint chocolate chip. This wouldn't be the true answer—coconut, I believe, leapt to the front of the pack a few years ago. But mint chocolate held the highest status as a child, and this kid attachment to one flavor isn't easily shaken off. Locating the chip-dappled bucket was the first order of business when we arrived at our oft-visited ice cream parlour, where opening the door triggered a bell to announce the arrival of our little feet (and, later, their departure, now patterned by drops of intense green dairy project). I also recall conversations about the absence of green in the Breyer's mint chip we got from the store, as it achieved a convincing peppermint taste despite its lack of food coloring. So here's a cookie for that kid, and for anyone who just enjoys a good treat. A beautifully minty, more-than-enough chocolate, chocolate cookie.

I had to choose a chocolate cookie for the second pick in my cookie bonanza. Generally, the absence of chocolate doesn't put me in a dither. But the flavor is so beloved, I reckoned I ought to toss in a dozen or so. The ratio of chocolate to cookie here is unequivocally weighted toward the former.  The dough is a cocoa powder base, stuffed with chocolate chips and haloed with frosting, itself rich with cocoa.  The mint adds that fresh bite without diluting the pure chocolate experience.

Adapted from the Minimalist Baker's Chewy Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Double Chocolate-Mint Cookies with Chocolate Frosting
Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions:
--Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and peppermint extract and stir to combine. In another bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Use a spoon to incorporate dry ingredients into wet. Stir in chocolate chips.
--Put dough into the fridge while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
--Scoop dough in 1 TBSP portions onto two cookie sheets, flattening slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cookies have firmed up, but still have some give on the top. Let cool completely before topping with frosting, otherwise it will melt off.
--Make frosting. Melt butter and stir in cocoa, mixing until no granules of the powder remain. Add sugar, milk, and vanilla, stirring to form a thick consistency. Add more sugar if the frosting is too runny. Once cookies have cooled, top each one with a spoonful of frosting.