My brain has ceased working. No, seriously. I woke up this morning, and everything seemed normal… But when I went to read an email Antonio had sent, I couldn’t do it. I can’t even reread this, so, try to bear with me. I literally cannot concentrate enough to read more than a sentence or two at a time. And even then, I can’t make much sense of things.

I decided, for the reason above (and because Antonio said I am due for something a little breezier in here), to post about cookies.  This might not be what he meant, but… Well, if not, clearly it’s his own fault for going to work on his truck and a friend’s car today, and hence not being around to tell me I can’t post this.  Right?  Right.

I think I made sugar cookies when I was little. But I’ve never made them as an adult. So, the other day, I decided to remedy that. Apparently, I’m stunted to the point where I can’t actually make sugar cookies LIKE an adult, I just happen to exist in an adult body while I make them.

See, I got it in my head I needed to decorate them, so I made icing, got sprinkles and colored sugar, a palette knife, tweezers (yes, tweezers), wax paper, and probably a lot of other things my fried cranium can’t recall at the moment, and I went to work.  Er, play.  Work?  Whatever.  I’m a two-year-old.

(I also decorated a few cupcakes that were, up to that point, rather pretty in a simple, mature sort of way.)

My younger brother (23, with a formal education in art, mind you) decided to “help” me. He basically ate cookies and made a mockery of the whole process while having me watch YouTube videos on his iPhone like this.  (That insanity is a whole topic unto itself, I’m sure.) Oh, and he did make a couple cookies.  I even photographed one.  

While I go clean more of the GIANT mess I made of the dining room table, I’ll leave it to you to guess which cookie was my brother’s.

(Click for big on any of them.  And forgive the craptacular quality on some of them.  I SUCK at automatic digital cameras.)

(*whispers* This one —->) 

Kaya has inspired me to post recipes. 

I love cooking and baking.  (This is a very, very good thing, because if baked goods were a living creature, I swear Antonio would be having an affair.)

And, just because I make no sense, I’m going to start with a recipe I’ve never made for him!  Heh.  Anyway, I love it and it’s one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes.

Mrs. Claus’s Mints

Ingredients:

¾ c butter

1 ½ c packed brown sugar

2 Tbs water

2 c chocolate chips

2 eggs

2 ½ c flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 packages Andes Mints

Prep:

(This dough needs to chill for a while before it’s used.  So there’s no need to preheat the oven while you’re mixing or anything – do it right before you’re going to bake.  When you’re ready, set your oven to 350°.)

• Melt the chocolate chips and set them aside to cool. 
• Unwrap all the Goddamn mints.  And cut them in half.  (This takes a while.)
• Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or tinfoil.  (I use parchment paper, my mother uses tinfoil.  Works fine either way.)

Directions:

1. Cream the butter, sugar and water.
2. Add melted chocolate and mix thoroughly, then beat in eggs. 
3. Add dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt)
4. CHILL THE DOUGH.  I cannot emphasize this enough. Go ahead and let it chill overnight, if you want to be safe.  Cookies will spread really thin if the dough isn’t chilled enough.  In fact, when you are making each batch, break off a chunk of dough  and return the rest to the fridge.  Really.  CHILLED DOUGH.
5. Roll the dough into ¾ inch or 1 inch balls and place on prepared cookie sheets.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350°.  (Cookies will be puffy and have a cracked appearance.)
7. Place half a mint on each cookie, return cookies to the oven for 30 seconds, then remove and swirl the mint with a toothpick.  Remove from the trays, cool and eat!

A  few random tips/notes: 

• The cookies are WAY prettier if you can find the Andes Mint Parfait Thins… They are the ones that have mint-chocolate-mint layers instead of the regular chocolate-mint-chocolate.  Ooo, look, google to the rescue.  These… Not these.  I mean, the regular ones will work.  They just won’t be as pretty. 
• Use whatever kind of chocolate chips make you happy.  Dark chocolate, semisweet, milk… (I bet you could even use white, though I’ve never done that.)  As long as it’s melted chocolate, it’ll work!
• You can use less/no salt if your butter is salted.  Or, you can be like me and not bother to measure anything that is a teaspoon or less, just pour some in your hand and go “That looks good enough!” and then try to convince yourself that not measuring makes you a “real” chef.
• Also, I’m thinking I’m not alone in looking at cookie recipes and having a tendency to think “dropped by rounded teaspoon” is ridiculous, becasue who the hell eats cookies that small…and then making them much bigger.  Don’t do that with these.  They need to be small or the mint looks stupid on them and they take too long to cook and spread too much.  From a notorious cookie-recipe-alterer, I promise you actually do want just 1 inch balls of dough.