Andes Recipe Contest – Second Place Winner
Submitted By: Renee Scherer

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup (Dutch-processed) cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 (10 oz.) package Andes Crème de Menthe Baking Chips, separated
• 2 Tb cream or half-and-half

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.

Melt 5 oz (half the bag) of Andes Crème de Menthe Baking Chips in a double boiler or carefully in a microwave for 30 seconds. Add the melted chips to the liquid ingredients and stir thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients (flour, dark cocoa, salt) and stir until thoroughly mixed. Finally, add 2.5 oz (half the remaining bag) unmelted baking chips and stir to distribute. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow to chill in your refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

To bake: Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place at least 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.  Indent center with thumb or dowel, and bake for 10 minutes. Bake all the cookies and allow them to cool on a rack.

As cookies are cooling, melt the remaining 2.5 oz. baking chips with 2 Tb cream. Stir until smooth. Pour this filling into the centers of thumbprint cookies once cooled.

Yield: 

About 3½ dozen