Thick Mint Cookie

“When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace.”

— Unknown

My idea behind this was short and sweet—I love Thin Mints, I love all things chocolate and mint, it’s the holiday season, why should I have to wait for it to be Girl Scout cookie season, so let’s make a thin mint! But then, I was like OH NO, let’s make a THICK mint. A big, big cookie, single serve if you want, so instead of sitting down to eat an entire sleeve of Thin Mints, you can just eat one cute little skillet cookie!

As my husband isn’t the biggest fan of the chocolate-mint combination (crazy, right?!!??) and my 10-month-old son is too young to eat chocolate (I just read that it is recommended to wait until they are TWO to eat chocolate…), I got this baby all to myself! There is just something about the way that anything chocolate and mint tastes in the winter, as you listen to holiday music for 2 months, wishing snow was trapping you inside instead of a pandemic… it all sounds so dreamy. Unfortunately, it’s still in the 60’s here in Atlanta and the only reason we aren’t going anywhere is because it’s too dangerous to!

BUT! Let’s just enjoy these moments that we are forced to stay home, watch all of the cheesy Christmas movies on Hallmark and Lifetime, eat delicious food, light all of the balsam scented candles, listen to Michael Bublé Christmas for the millionth time, and eat a giant single-serve cookie because why the hell not! If 2020 has taught me anything, it’s that enjoying a THICK MINT cookie to myself is MORE than okay, as there will be zero guilt here in the KBemBakes household! Now back to dancing to my regularly scheduled holiday music with my son while my husband both laughs at us and looks like we are slightly nuts!

ingredients

Butter, room temperature—4 oz, or ½ C

Brown Sugar—6 oz, or ¾ C

Eggs—1

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Peppermint Extract—1 ½ tsp

Flour—6 oz, or 1 C

Cocoa Powder—2.25 oz, or ¾ C

Baking Powder—2 tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Chocolate Chips—3.75 oz, or ½ C

process

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the butter and brown sugar, cream until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes.

Add the egg and both extracts. Mix until combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Slowly add this to the creamed mixture in the mixer, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Add in the chocolate chips.

Preheat your oven to 350˚F.

Butter a small cast iron skillet.

Press the cookie dough evenly into the pan and allow to firm up slightly in the fridge while your oven preheats.

When ready to bake, bake for 15 minutes, rote the pan 180˚, and then bake for 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

Optional Topping: melt together about ¼ C of chocolate chips with 1 TBL of coconut oil for about 30-45 seconds in the microwave (stirring every 15 seconds), drizzle on top of cookie skillet.

Dig in with a spoon for maximum deliciousness!

If you want to make individual drop cookies, bake for 7 minutes, rotate, 7 minutes.

Bon Appétit!

Gingerbread Scones

Good Morning Y’all! Happy Monday!

It’s always crazy to me how quickly December comes every year. I basically beg for the year to hurry up so that December 1st will be here so I can start my chocolate advent calendar (yes, I’m a child), display all of our Nutcrackers, watch FAR too many YouTuber’s Vlogmas (not-so-secret obsession), and basically just radiate Christmas for 25 days. And now it’s already December 4th.

WHAT?!

Yeah, it’s a shock to me, too. That means there’s 3 weeks until Christmas…4 weeks until the New Year…insert every panic sound, face, reaction that you can.

Enough of the fear, and let’s get back to this wonderful holiday season that’s upon us!!

With that, I decided to change-up my little gingerbread obsession! Fun fact: every year growing up, my brothers and I would build gingerbread houses. My mom would make everything from scratch, build them all herself—sometimes I would help—and, while the houses would sometimes have a crooked roof or a falling-in wall, they were always amazing, delicious, the perfect vehicle for gummy bears. My brothers and I, and in later years our nieces and nephews joined in, would cover our houses with chocolates, cereal, candy canes, every sugary candy, sprinkles, you name it! Yeah, I’d eat about ½ of the decorations, but totally worth it!

Now, with those great memories coming up again, I am just craving everything gingerbread and spiced. And, because I’m not my mom with her patience and skill, I’ve decided to throw my need for molasses into an amazing breakfast pastry—scones!

More recently, I’ve realized that scones are probably one of my favorite pastries. At the bakery I work at, we make some of the most delicious—ginger apricot, everything, bacon cheddar—ugh I love them all. They’re slightly sweet, has some dryness, very dense and filling, oh man just give it all to me!! These Gingerbread Scones are no different! It’s basically a gingerbread cookie, minus the adorable man-shape and icing all over, with a bit more moisture and it’s acceptable to eat for breakfast! These scones are filled with lots of spices, some warm brown sugar, and a nice turbinado sugar crunch on top!

I’ve been enjoying them daily with a cup of coffee, and you can’t get any better than that! I mean, maybe put on your holiday tunes, light up that tree, wear your warm cozy onesie and you’ve got yourself a wild start to your day or night! 

ingredients

Butter—4 oz, or ½ C

AP Flour—14 oz, or 2 ½ C

Brown Sugar—2.25 oz, or ¼ C

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Ground Ginger—1 tsp

Ground Clovers—½ tsp

Baking Powder—1 TBL

Salt—1 tsp

Eggs—2

Molasses—5.5 oz, or 1/3 C + 2 TBL

Milk—2.75 oz, or 1/3 C

Turbinado/Coarse Sugar—to sprinkle

process

Cut the butter into small cubes and put into freezer to keep cold.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, spices and baking powder.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, molasses and milk.

Work the cold butter into the dry with either your hands or a pastry cutter. Rub the butter into the dry until the butter is about pea-sized, and this entire mixture is homogenous.

Add in the wet, mix until just combined.

Now, you can either shape the scone dough into a large circle and cut into pie-like slices, or, like shown, use a small scoop for your scones.

*Note: These scones do grow in size a bit, so when putting them onto the sheet pan, make sure to give enough space between them!*

After you cut/shape your scones, put them all on your sheet pan, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and put into the freezer to firm up before you bake them! You can do this while you preheat the oven!

Preheat your oven to 425˚ F.

Bake your scones for ~15 minutes, until the bottoms have browned slightly.

Allow to cool (if you can resist!) before enjoying!

Bon Appétit!

Peppermint Mocha Brownies

Happy Peppermint Mocha Season!

Oh, whoops, I mean Happy Holiday Season, of course!

How has everyone’s December been so far? Filled with love and candy canes? Blue, white, green and red twinkly lights and eggnog? Endless peppermint mocha lattés and adorable gift-wrap with snowmen on it?

As most of you know, if I could, I would celebrate this season all year long, Michael Bublé’s holiday album would be forever playing in my car, and I would have our Christmas tree up and lit 365/24/7! So, I guess I’m really in my prime for the next couple of weeks.

After returning from a long weekend in Miami for Art Basel and Roberto’s birthday with my favorite couple (and future sister-in-law!), I was ready to pack away the little rompers and bring out the super hip sweaters with fuzzy polar bears on them—but it happens to be 70˚ here this week, so I guess I’ll just overheat in my dress-sweater combo, while pretending that it’s blizzarding outside.

This all includes lot and lots of hot chocolate with a candy cane, some yummy stew made by my one and only, and peppermint mocha brownies!

Yes, I am excited for the first two, but who doesn’t love super fudgy, extra rich, mocha and minty brownies?! I have no clue—especially when they are topped with a sweet white chocolate glaze and basically a snowstorm of candy canes!

The small amount of flour in these brownies, and lots and lots of chocolate, allow them to become oh so gooey in the center, while the outside has a slightly crisp “shell.” If the combination of a smooth center, and an even creamier white chocolate glaze isn’t enough for you, how about the fact that there’s extra caffeine fun with coffee grounds mixed in! Yes, my sweet, cheery, latté loving friends, I have just made your dreams come true with this here dessert—basically an edible peppermint mocha. I don’t believe I can say it enough times, or with enough excitement!

Peppermint. Mocha. White Chocolate. Candy Canes. Brownies.

Please do yourself a favor and make these as soon as possible, because while I write this post, I’m already on my second…or maybe third…slice!

ingredients

Butter—8 oz, or 1 C/2 sticks

Semi-Sweet Chocolate—4 oz

Candy Canes, crushed—3

Cocoa Powder—1 oz, or 1/3 C

Eggs—3

Sugar—14 oz, or 1 ¾ C

Coffee Grounds—0.2 oz, or 2 tsp

Vanilla Extract—0.1 oz, or ½ tsp

Peppermint Extract—0.1 oz, or ½ tsp

Flour—5.25 oz, or 1C + 1 TBL

Salt—0.1 oz, or ½ tsp

Baking Powder—0.1 oz, or ½ tsp

Sweetened Condensed Milk—7 oz, or ½ can, or 2/3 C

Butter—0.5 oz, or 1 TBL

White Chocolate—6 oz, or 1 C

Candy Canes, crushed—4 or 5

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

Over a double boiler, combine the butter, semi-sweet chocolate, cocoa powder and candy canes.

While that is melting, beat your eggs together, using the paddle attachment, or, if using your hands, a whisk, with the sugar and coffee grounds for 3-5 minutes, so that they are light and fluffy. This will help keep them from coagulating when you add in the warm chocolate.

Add in your two extracts.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Once your chocolate mixture has melted, slowly stream it into your beaten eggs with the mixer on low speed.

Add in your sifted, dry ingredients.

Only mix until combined.

Pour batter into a pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. I like to use a springform pan, which makes for much easier removal of the brownies when you’re ready to eat them!

Baking for 27-30 minutes, until the center is just slightly jiggly—this is what makes them fudgy!

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Once cooled, melt together the sweetened condensed milk, 1 TBL of butter, and white chocolate.

Pour over the cooled brownies and sprinkled with the 4 or 5 (or more!) crushed candy canes.

Allow to cool and harden, then cut and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!