Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

We had a blast during the 2011 Black Mountain B&B Visions of Sugarplums Christmas Cookie Tour! It was great meeting visitors to the Inn on Mill Creek and sharing our little neck of the woods -- and our cookies! We had the awesome Jo Northup performing on hammered dulcimer and flute for guests. And the tour benefited a wonderful charity, the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry, which provides local residents and stranded travelers with basic and emergency assistance. The SVCM has a food pantry, coordinates the Meals on Wheels program, works with the local homeless shelter, helps those in need with critical financial assistance, and aids in finding job opportunities, job training and educational advancement. Their work is so important in our community and we're extremely grateful to everyone who bought tickets to the Cookie Tour to help out this great group of volunteers.

This being our first Cookie Tour, we wanted to do a cookie that was special, and yummy of course! When thinking of ingredients, two of our favorite things are chocolate and mint. Put them together and you have a cool cookie combo. And you know we like to share, so here is our recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip cookies!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
from the Inn on Mill Creek Bed & Breakfast
Prep+bake time: 50 minutes (cookies); 5 minutes (frosting) / Makes 4 dozen

Preheat oven to 350.

Cookie Ingredients

1 1/4 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 drop green food coloring

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Beat in eggs, one at a time
3. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extract
4. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt
5. Add dry ingredient mixture into butter/egg/sugar mixture and mix well
6. Stir in chocolate chips with a spoon
7. Place dough in refrigerator and cool for 30 minutes
8. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet; flatten with glass or back of spoon
9. Bake 8-10 minutes; cookies will be soft when removed from oven
10. Cool for 5 minutes on sheet; transfer to wire racks to finish cooling
11. Mix frosting ingredients together (adding add'l tsp of milk will make thinner icing if desired)
12. Frost cookies and cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes to set frosting
    

Our 2011 Ends with 32 Kiva Loans

In 2011, we were able to fund six entrepreneurs from developing countries through the microlending site Kiva, bringing our total number of loans to 32! Three of our 32 borrowers -- Nelva, David and Reina -- recently paid off their loans (although because of "currency exchange loss", meaning the value of the dollar appreciated 20% or more against the currency of our borrower's country during the loan payoff time, David's loan was considered to be 99% paid off when all was said and done). Since we choose to relend our money once it becomes available again, we had enough to pick two more borrowers from opposite sides of the globe:

Paula lives in Bolivia and is a weaver by trade, making blankets and gloves with wool and yarn. With the help of 28 lenders, Paula is getting a loan to purchase wool in different textures and colors in order to continue on in her small business. We love the fact that Paula is succeeding in handmade craftwork because that is a trade that is very important and has a rich heritage right here in the Appalachians and Western North Carolina.

Oleg is a flower vendor and has his own vending section on the flower aisle at the local market in the town where he lives in Ukraine. With the loan money contributed by 70 lenders from around the world, including us, Oleg will be able to buy more flowers, sell more, and grow his business. The fact that he sells flowers and Brigette constantly has gardening on the brain made him an easy choice.

We're excited to see how many small business owners we can help out in 2012, as we continue being part of the fight with Kiva against global poverty. To learn more about Kiva, visit www.kiva.org.