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You are here: Home / bar cookies / Spring Fever: Andes Mint Shortbread Sandwiches

Spring Fever: Andes Mint Shortbread Sandwiches

March 13, 2010 By Laura 11 Comments

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Is anything better than the first week of springlike weather? Especially when you live north of the Mason Dixon Line? Especially, especially when you have been housebound and sick the previous month?

No.


I realize this is somewhat repetitive of my last post, but seriously, people, I love this time of year. Alas, it seems to get me behind in my blogging though.


Anyhoo, my brother and his family came to visit for the day this week, so I got to spend time cuddling my baby nephew and playing with my niece Sophie. And best of all, my brother and sister in law ran themselves ragged entertaining my kids (see photos). Literally, as my brother was convinced the only way to fly a kite is to run. To be fair, our kite is eons too sophisticated for me so it is not like I can do it any better.


My sister in law and I have something in common, and that is our affection for the flavors of chocolate and mint together. Wait, did I say affection? I think I meant obsession. And everyone knows that when family is visiting, you indulge the in-law, not the blood relation. After all, the blood relation practically has to love you, but you gotta work for the in-law. And besides, like I say, I’m obsessed with those flavors too so it is a win-win situation.


I have been waiting to make these bars, waiting until I could get out of the house and buy Andes mints. They are another oh-so-brilliant-why-didn’t-I-think-of-that creation from Lauren Chattman. If you have ever stared at other sandwich cookies, so perfectly round, and thought boy those look yummy but who wants to roll out the round cookies, then this is the recipe for you. It took minutes to put together.


Andes Mint Shortbread Sandwiches
Closely adapted from Lauren Chattman’s Mom’s Big Book of Cookies

1 1/2 cups (189 g) AP flour
1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder–I used Valrhona
1/2 t salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar (I used superfine as it is what I have right now)
1/2 t vanilla
Andes mints–Chattman says you will need 28, I just know I used mints from 2 boxes; I used the mint sandwiched inbetween chocolate, but you could use the inverse as well

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line an 8X8 pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Sift together the flour and cocoa powder and then whisk in the salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and beat it in. Add the flour mixture in 2 additions on the lowest speed and mix in just until the flour has mixed in.

Divide the dough in half–I think I got this part sightly off and I would weigh next time. Having said that, my bars came out fine despite having a slightly thicker layer on top. Place half of the dough into the prepared pan and press it in evenly. Place the unwrapped Andes mints over the dough–they should nearly cover the dough perfectly. Gently press them into the dough.

Break the remaining dough into smaller pieces and scatter it evenly over the Andes mints. Press it gently to flatten it and cover the candy evenly.

Bake until the shortbread is firm at the edges but still soft in the center, 35-45 minutes. If you see the edges start to rise, pull it out. I had to pick up my daughter from preschool so I did not see at what point that happened, but I am giving a wide range because the edges got a little too baked after they were puffy, and I had to cut them off (and to be fair to my sister in law, whom I left in charge of removing the pan, I thought it looked fine when I got home–but those edges hardened–she pulled it out at the 40 min mark but Chattman says up to 45 mins).

Wait until the shortbread has cooled completely before removing by the parchment overhang and placing on a cutting board. Slice into squares.

Filed Under: bar cookies, candy, chocolate, cookies, Holiday and Christmas Cookies, mint chocolate Tagged With: Andes mints, bar cookies, chocolate, cookies, mint, sandwich cookies

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Comments

  1. Hammster says

    March 13, 2010 at 2:25 pm

    It's interesting that it's called shortbread as it looks so moist. Also, very delicious looking and sounding. Going into the to-try pile.

    Reply
  2. noble pig says

    March 13, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    Oh geez I would eat them all, not even kidding.

    Reply
  3. Joanne says

    March 14, 2010 at 7:36 am

    Chocolate and mint is quite possibly the only chocolate combo that I crave. These look amazing!

    Reply
  4. grace says

    March 14, 2010 at 7:55 am

    considering that i can and have put away an entire box of andes in one sitting, i'm embarrassed that this creation has never occurred to me. it's so attractive and must taste divine. good times, laura!

    Reply
  5. Lucy says

    March 14, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    Wow these look amazing – love the idea of the sandwiched mints! Have bookmarked this recipe and am sure it will be in my kitchen soon.

    Reply
  6. Maria says

    March 14, 2010 at 7:47 pm

    I will have to pick up some mints to try these!

    Reply
  7. Ingrid says

    March 16, 2010 at 7:54 pm

    Looks like my kinda cookie as it doesn't look like cookies but more like bars. They look like brownies.
    ~ingrid

    Reply
  8. Amy says

    March 17, 2010 at 8:12 pm

    OMG these look awesome. And I sure could've used them on your spring day — out here we had the worst storm in 30 years and that day we lost our power for 3 days!!! Oy. Luckily the sun has come out now and I saw some robins today.

    Can't wait till Passover is over so I can try these (this week we need to use up everything we've already got!).

    Reply
  9. Kathy Gori says

    April 5, 2010 at 7:40 pm

    this looks fascinating!Great idea.

    Reply
  10. Noelle says

    April 5, 2010 at 9:43 pm

    nom nom yum! I was salivating!!

    Reply
  11. Claudia says

    April 6, 2010 at 8:22 am

    Cookies! bars! Don't care what you call them – they are divine!

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

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