Andes Cookies

Recipe posted by kmd, originally by Momma Snider

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp water
12oz pkg semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1lb Andes mints
Directions

Heat butter, sugar and water in saucepan until butter is melted. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Pour into large bowl and cool 10 minutes. Beat in eggs, then add flour, soda and salt and beat just until blended. Chill dough for an hour. Don't worry that the dough seems a little bit oily - it turns out fine once baked. Line cookie sheets with foil. Roll dough in 1" balls and place 2" apart on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 11 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately place an Andes mint on each cookie. After they melt, swirl each one with a knife (think of it like spreading frosting on a cake but with the Andes mint instead) and remove cookies from cookie sheet and let them cool until chocolate is solid.

Finding Andes mints seem to be the biggest trick to this recipe. I've found Wal-Mart has started carrying Andes mints baking chips in their baking aisle. I just open a bag of those, and put about a teaspoon of chips per cookie. The actual mints are less messy, but these work too. Also, if you are buying the mints, if you find them in a small bag, buy two bags, because this recipe makes about 5 doz. cookies. And if 5 doz. sounds like a lot, I've found these cookies freeze really well. Or you can half the dough, make half with Andes mints, and with the other half mix in white chocolate chips. Or take that second half, bake them as usual, and put chocolate chips on top and let them melt and frost them. There's lot of room here for experimentation. But the Andes cookies are the best I've made. Enjoy!
Notes
It's not a family secret, but I will give credit where it's due. This recipe is courtesy of Momma Snider. She's the mother of Eric Snider, humorist. I found his site from a link in Howard Taylor's news, and Eric's writing is so funny, I've been reading it for years and his movie reviews are dead on. One day I stumbled upon his forums, and I've been lurking there ever since. Jeff and I have decided these cookies are better than Girl Scout Thin Mints, because they're just as minty, but are soft and chewy.