This is the 200th post on my blog! In less than a year I’ve added 200 recipes!
I stewed about what to write for this special day. I knew I needed to have a cookie for the 200th – since baking cookies are my favorite things to make. My challenge was to find someone to bake for because the hubby and I can have only a few cookies now and then.

I have five wonderful grandchildren, but they all live far away, so I rarely get to bake for them. I also have a friend in town whose three grandkids live only a block away. But she can’t bake for them because she’s undergoing chemo for cancer. So I baked cookies for her kitchen so that when the grandkids visit they’ll have a treat waiting for them. It’s difficult letting our grandkids see us when we’re not well, but it’s a part of life. It does our spirits good to see them and hopefully it is reassuring to children when they get to see grandparents, even when they’re not at their best.

I’ve also found a resource I want to share with all of you – Take Them a Meal. It’s a website where you can set up a schedule and folks can sign up to bring a meal to someone in need. Once you set it up, the website sends reminders and suggestions. They also allow you to see what meals have been served in the previous days so you don’t duplicate. Genius.

Here’s the website for Take Them a Meal: http://www.takethemameal.com/index.php
It looks as if it’s quite simple to set it up. I hope this helps some of you who have friends who could use a little help.

One more note: the picture book shown is Stanza by Jill Esbaum, who is a wonderful Iowa writer I happen to know. I went to a weekend retreat for children’s writers led by Jill and it was delightful. My own grandkids adore this book, so it seemed a good one to tell you about.

So where was I? Oh yes, cookies – my favorite thing to bake. These were fudgy little wonders.
I had several half bags of mint chips that I tossed together for these. Some mint chips are green and others look like regular chocolate chips, but because these have a chocolate batter, the chips didn’t show up much. However the flavor really came through. If you want even more mint flavor, add a capful of peppermint extract. Let’s get baking!
This recipe was adapted from the recipe on the back of the package of Nestle Dark Chocolate and Mint Chips. I also used Hershey’s mint chocolate chips.

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 2/3 cup mint chips
1 tsp peppermint extract – optional

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well blended.
Add cocoa powder and continue beating.
Add soda and salt.
Add flour and mix just until blended.
Stir in chips.
Batter will be heavy.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 11 – 13 minutes.
After two minutes move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Pour a glass of milk, find your favorite bedtime story and read to the little ones in your life.
These fudgy mint cookies will send you off to sweet dreamland.