Chocolate Mint Sundae Cups

Mmmm, I love mint and chocolate. Especially warm mint and chocolate.  I bought some mint chips over the Christmas holiday and was waiting for the perfect dessert in which to use it.  And the idea came to me yesterday.  This dessert provides all the comfort of chocolate and mint in a cookie, ice cream, and syrup kind-of-way.  I was craving a comfort dessert and thought, what could be better than a baked cookie with ice cream on top? Well, nothing of course!  (Or nothing else at that particular moment.)

But the real kicker was that I was thinking about this dessert while I was walking with my baby yesterday.  Why is it that everytime I exercise hard, I have to have something sweet when I’m done?  There’s something wrong with this picture.  No baby weight is coming off as a result of this routine.  It’s cruel irony, that’s what it is.  So while I ponder why my brain and stomach aren’t communicating, here’s a great, easy, comforting dessert recipe.

You can use any chocolate chip recipe, or a refrigerated cookie dough to make this even faster.  I like to use my favorite cookie dough recipe from my grandmother.  She uses white chocolate chips, (which I normally use), but I used half semi-sweet and half mint this time.  Cream two sticks of butter in a stand mixer (about 30 seconds or so).

Add brown and white sugar.

Cream for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy.

Then add all the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.

Add the chips and then you’re ready to spoon these babies out.  Ahh, I could eat this whole bowl right now!

Scoop enough dough out to fill a ramekin about half full.

Do this for all four ramekins and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick entered comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Side note:  What to do with leftover dough.  I like to make up dough ball, lay them on a cookie sheet and then stick them in the freezer.  Once they are frozen, I transfer the balls to a freezer Ziplock bag.  That way, I can just put out however many cookies I want to eat and bake them, instead of baking all the cookies and then freezing them.   (They taste better fresh, instead of reheated in the microwave.)

So once they are baked, let them cool down a bit.  I placed mine on a hot pad.  Scoop out some ice cream and pour chocolate sauce over the top. 

Viola!  You have a simple, easy, comfort dessert.  Bon appetit!

Chocolate Mint Sundae Cups

makes 4 sundae cups

For the cookie dough:

1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature

1 1/2 c sugar

1/2 c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

3 1/4 c flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

6 oz. mint chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Place butter in a large bowl.  Cream 30 seconds.  Stop and scrape bowl.  Add sugars and cream for two minutes, until light and fluffy.  Stop and scrape bowl.  Add eggs, one at a time, and beat for 1 minute.  Add flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes until thoroughly combined.  Scrape bowl and add chips.  Fill 4 ramekins about 1/2 full of dough and place ramekins on a baking sheet.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until slightly brown and toothpick entered comes out with a few moist crumbs.  The centers will collapse a bit, and that’s okay.  It makes for a nice well for the ice cream.  (NOTE: Iif you choose to make these as regular cookies, bake for 12-14 minutes, or until lightly golden around the edges.)

For the Chocolate Sauce:

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

heavy cream

Place chocolate in a microwavable safe bowl and melt at 50% power for 30 seconds.  Check every 30 seconds until melted.  (Watch that you don’t burn the chocolate.  You’ll know if you did this if your chocolate becomes hard.)  Add the heavy cream, a tablespoon at a time, until the chocolate is creamy and smooth.

Assembly:

Scoop out ice cream on top of the cookie cups and pour chocolate sauce (and any other toppings) on top.  Let cool slightly before eating.