As I mentioned, Eva is spending her afternoons with me this summer after swim team practice in the mornings and her job teaching tiny tots to swim (or at least get used to being in the water). In the car on the way home yesterday she asked, “Nana, can we bake tomorrow?” I replied that it was an excellent idea and asked what she wanted to bake.

“Well”, she said, “I lost a bet with my coach, and he said he wants me to make him his favorite cookies”. There was a bit to unpack there, but first I said, “And what kind of cookies does he like?” She told me he likes mint chocolate chip cookies, with REAL mint chopped up in them. I promised to look up some recipes and get what we needed to make some the next day.

I did some research online (what did we ever do before we could Google things?), and found a fantastic-sounding recipe for chocolate chip cookies made with chopped-up Andes chocolate mint candies. I texted it to her and Eva said, “But he wants REAL chopped up mint in the cookies”. I found another recipe that had something like a cup of chopped mint in it, which, frankly, sounded kind of herbaceous. Plus, they looked like they had spinach in them; they were so green.

I suggested we make the Andes mint cookies and just add a tablespoon or so of chopped up fresh mint from her daddy’s garden. She agreed on the compromise, and we made up a good-sized batch for her to take to practice. I am sure he will like them because honestly, they were some of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made! I highly recommend the recipe from The Merchant Baker.

While we baked, I asked her to elaborate on what sort of bet she had made with Coach, and she explained that it was more of a deal, not a bet. The team was playing water polo, and she was assigned the role of goalie. She begged him to take it easy on her, and he agreed, but said there would be a “price”, which turned out to be a batch of cookies.

Cute story, and as it turns out, an absolutely fabulous recipe for a chocolate chip cookie variation! Hope you try it.