Minty Cookie-Butter Cookies

'Tis the season to indulge in cookies and what better way than to participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap for the very first time! 

Minty chocolate chips, creamy butter, fragrant cookie butter, and a hint of vanilla and maple syrup...these cookies pack a tasty wallop when it comes to spreading the holiday cheer! That's why I was super excited when my bestie suggested we use Justine and Zach's amazing recipe from their blog Cooking & Beer.

We swapped out some of the ingredients based on what was available to us: President's Choice mint chocolate chips for Andes peppermint baking chips and Trader Joe's cookie butter for Biscoff spread. 

The cookies came out soft and crumbly with a consistency similar to a peanut butter cookie thanks to the generous scoop of cookie butter in the ingredient list.

I highly recommend whipping up a batch of these cookies to go with coffee or milk since they're surprisingly not too sweet and could understandably pair well with an Imperial Stout too as suggested by Zach and Justine.

Swipe the full recipe over at Cooking + Beer or take a snapshot of the ingredients/shopping list below:

Minty Cookie Butter Cookies
Yields: 18

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups AP flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter (at room temp.)
• 1 cup cookie butter spread *
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup mint chocolate chips *

Canadian Substitutions

• If you can't find Biscoff or Trader Joe's cookie butter on your grocery shelves, give Penotti's Cookinotti a spin as I've spotted it in the Loblaws/Superstore flyer. For extra brownie (er, cookie?) points, you can also try making your own cookie butter with this gluten-free recipe from The Suburban Girl Gone Country. I'm not 100% sure how this homemade version reacts in the oven, but  it probably wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have some homemade cookie butter you could enjoy straight out of the jar :)

• Similarly, if peppermint chips are scarce, try President's Choice mint chocolate chips (sold in sealed packages so they're likely fresher) or Bulk Barn for their cheaper and slightly sweeter mint chocolate chips.

Thanks to Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen for organizing such a fun event! My cookies were sent off to three lovely and talented Canadian food bloggers: Korena from Korena in the Kitchen, Amanda from Once Upon a Recipe, and Cheri from Kitchen Simplicity. Please visit their blogs to see their recipes and spread the cookie love; I'll be back again next week to share some snapshots of the lovely cookies I received.

Happy baking!

♥