College kids dash out at all hours to Insomnia Cookies for chocolate chunk or oatmeal raisin. What happened to work ethic? What happened to melting butter and beating eggs? It takes 10 minutes to mix cookie batter, and those are minutes well spent.
Kids counter that they don’t stash eggs and flour in their dorm rooms. Campus life offers no mixer, no oven, no time. Plus, cookie shops deliver. Which, come to think of it, counts as pure genius.
Fine, order cookies. Buy yourself a sweet respite from studying (or whatever it is students do late at night). I’ll be home mixing homemade from sugar and eggs and flour. Mostly, from chocolate.
I sent a batch of mint-topped daredevils to friends on a ski vacation. They opened the package at 9 p.m., downed the contents by 9:04 and spent the rest of the night staring at the ski-lodge walls, waiting for the chocolate shock to dull.
No mere procrastination ploy, these chocolate-powered pucks actually induce insomnia. Take that, college kids.
Midnight Mints
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 7 minutes
Makes: 20 cookies
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate
4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut up
2 eggs at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup flour
20 to 40 Andes mints
1. Melt: Break up unsweetened chocolate into a bowl. Toss with butter. Microwave just to melt, 1-2 minutes. Stir. Let cool to room temperature.
2. Beat: Crack eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer. Pour in sugar and vanilla. Sprinkle in baking powder and salt. Beat until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Pour in chocolate mixture; beat on low until combined. Sprinkle in flour; beat on low until combined.
3. Shape: Line 1 or 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a 1 3/4-inch-diameter ice-cream scoop to portion out 20 domes of dough. Press one or two mints into each cookie. (Two mints overlapping at one corner, at right angles, make a squared-off heart.)
4. Bake: Slide pan(s) into a 350-degree oven, and bake until just set, about 7 minutes. Enjoy warm.
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