25 Days of Christmas in Cookies

Day 21: Mint Chocolate Thumbprints
      Another recipe from the blog of The Spiced Life






     2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
     1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa
     1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
     1 cup confectioners' sugar
     1 Tbsp vanilla extract
     1/2 tsp salt
     broken up pieces of Andes mints


   In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.
   In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until it is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix until a ball of dough forms. It will be too soft to work with so put it into a Ziplock bag and chill for at least an hour, or until it is firm enough to work with. If it chills for a long time, you will need to let it soften a bit at room temperature before it can be worked with it.
  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll tablespoons of the dough into balls and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Lightly flour your thumb and use it to press down into the center of each dough ball to create a deep well.
   Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F for 8-9 minutes, until the tops look dry. While the cookies are cooling on the sheet, drop pieces of the broken up pieces of the mints into the middles of each of the cookies. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a total of about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
   Enjoy!!