Thursday, December 10, 2015

Fresh Mint Spice Cookies (Grown-up Cookies)

'Tis the season to be jolly. Merrily I went, to whip up a batch of cookies never seen before; in this household at least. I didn't have a particular recipe in mind. So I threw whatever ingredients I thought could work, into the dough, steadfastly staying away from the 'usual stuff'. This is a cookie for grown-ups, mind you. There are no chocolate chips, sprinkles or nonpareils here!

I had one goal, however. The colours red and green, both traditional colours of Christmas, had to be included. As my mint plant was in dire need of a trim, I used that for the green and since I had dried cranberries, why not for the red.

These are fresh out of the oven. I was so pleased with the results that I munched a couple even before it had the chance to properly cool.

Fresh Mint Spice Cookies

The cookie was delicious ; a pleasant, faint spicy aftertaste. A friend rated it an eight out of ten! My other half, of course, loved it! The line, 'sugar and spice, and everything nice' , comes to mind.

It's really easy to do, a matter of mixing all the ingredients together and voila! Still, I did it step-by-step, just to be sure I was combining everything properly.

Fresh Mint Spice Cookies

Adapted from www.spiceupthecurry.com .
Ingredients (18 cookies):

- 1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 110g butter (softened)
- ½ cup soft brown sugar
- 2 tbsp full cream milk
- ½ tsp chilli flakes (seedless)
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 30 fresh mint leaves (chopped)
- 2 tbsp craisins/dried cranberries, pomegranate juice infused (chopped)

How-to:
1) Preheat oven to 170C. Line baking tray with baking paper.

2) In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar using a baking spoon or a whisk. Beat or stir vigorously until it is well incorporated.

3) Then, sift the flour and baking soda over. Add milk. Stir to combine. I resorted to lightly kneading it with my hand midway. It was just much faster.

4) Add chilli flakes, sesame seeds, ground nutmeg, mint leaves and craisins. Knead this into the dough, until just combined.

5) Use a rounded spoon. Place one tablespoon of dough onto the lined baking tray. Use a flat spoon to flatten the dough into a round shape (as pictured below); a little over 1.5inches in diameter for me.

6) Do a test bake (bake one cookie) to find out best baking time and temp for your oven. I baked these for about 8-10 minutes at 170C. It gave me a cookie that's just done; in between soft and crispy. Lower the temp and bake awhile longer if you want it crispier.

Note: The cookies were still good two weeks in an air-tight container.

1) Fresh mint, nutmeg, sesame seeds, cranberries, chilli flakes.
2) Combining the butter and sugar.
3) Adding flour, baking soda and milk.
4) The cookie dough.

1) Add sesame seeds, cranberries, fresh mint and nutmeg into the dough.
2) The completed cookie dough.
3) Spoon one tablespoon out.
4) Onto the baking tray it goes.

Use a spoon to flatten the dough.

Freshly baked and out of the oven!

Mmmm....fresh mint spice cookies!

The back of the cookie.

The texture in between.

This done, my next goal is to bake more of these to give away to friends and family for Christmas! Am I excited!


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This post is linked to Cook and Celebrate: Christmas 2015 hosted by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids .

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26 comments:

  1. Wow! Sharon, well done! I think I will try this recipe of yours. Sounds and looks so yummy! Have a beautiful Friday!

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  2. That looks so yum! I love the addition of fresh mint leaves and cranberries. Texture looks just right. You're so innovative!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kanak - one of my best creations yet! ;)

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  3. What a great idea of adding fresh mint leaves in the cookie dough! They look amazing, Sharon.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Angie. Some days I amaze myself. Lol.

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  4. Love the Christmassy colours, Sharon! Send me some, won't you?? Hohoho! xoxo

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    Replies
    1. If only I could, Shirley ...if only I could! xx ^.^

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  5. Hi Sharon,

    These sweet and spicy cookies with specks of Christmas colours look awesome! Would like to link your post with us at Cook and Celebrate at here, http://www.bakeforhappykids.com/2015/12/cook-and-celebrate-christmas-2015.html?

    Zoe

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  6. Hi Sharon,
    I like mint and surely yummy sweet and spicy cookies! Oh so festive looking !

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Karen. I enjoyed making this one! :D

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  7. wow chili flakes and nutmeg
    i dun take that...but the cookies look so tempting till i wanna give a try too
    Hooo hooo hoo Christmas is around the corner :D

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    Replies
    1. Glad you're willing to give this a taste, Emily! You never know ..might like it! ;)

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  8. Mint and chili? Yes, not only sound they look great as well...I sure would love a couple of them.
    Great holiday cookies!

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    Replies
    1. .. I sure wish we lived closer to each other. Would have invited you over, Juliana! :D

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  9. Hi Sharon, adults so deserve to have their own cookies and these are perfect! Spiced cookies. NOM NOM NOM!

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad we're on the same page. Thank you! ^.^

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  10. Excellent cookies Sharon! We love mint, but never tried it with cookies before, what an great idea! We'll skip the chili flakes (Mirella's stomach can't handle them) but we'll add all the rest.
    Wonderful work, kudos!
    Greetings from sunny Athens!
    Panos and Mirella
    xoxoxo

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Panos and Mirella! xoxo to you too, my beautiful friends.

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  11. Something innovative...not the same boring sweet cookies...loved the idea

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