Fudge Cookies

My poor kids! I completely forgot that today was St. Patrick's Day and sent them each to school and Pre-school NOT dressed in a speck of green! I only realized what today was by this afternoon. I felt so bad that hadn't done all I could to prevent them from getting pinched. So I tried to make it up to them with a fun St. Patrick's Day treat.

One of my favorite things my mom made growing up were Fudge Mounds. These are light, tender, and fluffy cake-like cookies that are very similar to whoopies. She always topped them with mint flavored frosting, tinted green. I LOVED them!!!

Since I've moved to a much higher elevation, I've tried to make them and have them turn out as I remember, but I've had no luck. Instead, the altitude here makes mine turn out to be fudge cookies, which is not all that bad, by any means! In fact this is one of my good friends' favorite cookies now, and I thought this would be the perfect thing to make up for my poor parenting skills!

Here's what you'll need:

1 C. brown sugar, packed

1/3 C. shortening

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

2/3 C. milk

2 C. flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/3 C. cocoa

Combine the first five ingredients, then add the last four. Beat until well combined. Drop onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. I found that at 10 minutes, the cookies are really fudgy. At 11 minutes, they are in between fudgy and cakey. And at 12 minutes, they are more cakey, but have a thicker, more structured form. So it depends on how you'd like them as to how long you should bake them. For me, 11 minutes is perfect! Cool on the baking sheets for 5-8 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

This is after 10 minutes of baking. They are nice and puffy when you take them out of the oven, but then deflate as they cool, as seen below.

Once cooled, frost with peppermint flavored buttercream frosting, tinted green. This time, I made yummy fudge cookie sandwiches (like whoopie pies) that were super delish! At Christmas time or Valentine's Day, I like to tint the frosting red and frost the tops of the cookies, leaving them open faced, and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. HEAVEN!!!!

Though these cookies aren't too bad, what makes them amazing is eating them with frosting! I wouldn't eat them without!! Mmmmmmmm!!!!!!