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It’s time for some cookies!

I have been thinking of a Peppermint Cookie recipe ever since I bought my 100% Organic Pure Peppermint Leaves. I made a peppermint tea for myself on the first day I bought it and I just knew that I had work with it in some dessert recipe. This time of the year is perfect for peppermint goodies so I thought of pairing Chocolate with it and making some cookies.

I have been mentally drawing a recipe for this cookie for more than a couple of days now, trying to imagine how flavors and textures can work. I have been thinking of healthier alternatives to traditional ingredients without loosing out on taste. This is how I finally did it – I started the base with whole wheat flour like I usually do but then I thought I can add some red rice flour which might result in a crumblier cookie. I added ground up almonds for the flavor and fat which makes the cookies incredibly light. I skipped the white sugar completely and used only natural coconut sugar. You can read more about coconut sugar in one of my previous posts and the natural bitter undertones and caramelness worked brilliantly in this recipe.

Of course the star of the ingredients is my peppermint leaves! I simply ground them up with almonds and used which resulted in cookies which are very aromatic. Peppermint flavor in this is very different from the fake commercial peppermint essense that we are all used to. This has a very earthy herbal smell to it which hits you after you take a couple of bites of the cookie and it’s just beautiful. Cookies themselves are not too sweet which is great as it’s toped it with a dark chocolate coating. I added a bit of powdered peppermint leaves to the melted chocolate for a stronger peppermint flavor. Over all these cookies are quite high in olive oil content because it’s impossible get the perfect cookie texture without a good amount of fat in it.

Cookies turned out to be a tremendous success! They are soft and crumbly with the right amount of sweetness and richness. I highly recommend  you add a batch of these cookies to your baking list this holiday season! They are great to have on hand to handover to visiting friends and family or for your own family too.

Notes:

I have used organic unrefined red rice flour here. You can use regular white rice flour also.

I have used stoneground organic Navadarshanam whole wheat four but any wheat flour will work in the recipe.

The friend peppermint leaves I have used is by ‘Concious Foods’. You should definitely consider getting yourself a bottle as this also makes great tea. But you can use peppermint essence if you must.

Refined white sugar will probably be fine instead of coconut sugar but the flour will be slightly different.

You could try to reduce the amount of oil but I can’t guarantee you the same texture.

I really want to make them with some dark chocolate chips next time instead of coating it with chocolate. I am sure it’ll work very well.

Keep a close eye on the cookies while they are baking as the base can burn very easily. Try to bake them at a lower temperature

This recipe makes about 25 to 30 cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup red rice flour
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/4 cup whole dried peppermint leaves
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 heaping cup of  coconut sugar(coconut sap)
• 2 heaping tbsps of unsweetned cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp flax seed powder + 6 tbsp water
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 100 grams dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp peppermint leaves

Mix the flax seed powder and water, stir well and leave it aside.

Combine whole wheat flour, red rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut sugar, unsweetened cocoa and salt in bowl. Powder whole almonds and peppermint leaves together and add it to the flour mixture. Stir everything together.

Add the flax seed mixture and olive oil. Gently mix everything to get a soft dough.

Wrap the dough in a cling film and refrigerate it for a couple of hours.

Pre-heat the oven at 150 degree Celsius. Line the baking tray with a parchment paper.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator, take about a spoonful of dough, roll it between your palms, press it slightly and place it on the lined baking tray. Arrange them about an inch apart as they do spread a little.

Place the cookies in the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. They will still be soft when they are fresh out of the oven but remember that they will harden as they cool down.

For the chocolate coating

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt it in a  double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, you can use a little bowl placed on a pot of boiling water. When the chocolate is silky and molten add the powdered peppermint leaves. You can the leaves for a finer powder.

Spread the melted chocolate on top of the fully cooled cookies and let the chocolate harden.