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By Root 340 0

and even taste good frozen. In the meantime, the peppermint extract has a half-life of about 2,000 years, so keep that bottle around for the next batch, which will likely happen sooner than that. Heads up: You’ll need to take the butter out of the refrigerator about an hour before you start baking so it can come to room temperature.

1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, plus a little extra for the cookie sheets

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder Scant

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (one 12-ounce package)

1. About an hour ahead of time, unwrap the butter and place it in a large bowl. Use a table knife to cut it into 1-inch pieces, and let it stand at room temperature to soften.

2. Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Put a little soft butter on a paper towel, a piece of waxed paper, or a butter wrapper, and lightly grease two cookie sheets.

3. Pour the granulated sugar, and crumble the brown sugar, into the bowl holding the softened butter. Use a handheld electric mixer at high speed (or if you don’t have one, use a whisk, with enthusiasm) to beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. (Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl a few times during this process.) Add the vanilla and peppermint extracts, and continue to beat for another minute or two, until everything is well combined.

4. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl, and whisk slowly to blend. Add this to the butter mixture, along with the chocolate chips, stirring with the spatula until the dough is thoroughly combined.

5. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them 2 to 3 inches apart and flattening each mound slightly with the back of a spoon. (You will need to bake these in batches, so just spoon out as many as will comfortably fit on your cookie sheets.) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies are dry and the bottoms are lightly browned.

6. Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheets for about 5 minutes after you take them out of the oven, and then gently transfer them to a cooling rack using a thin-bladed metal spatula. Repeat with the remaining dough.

THE CASE FOR COOKIE SHEETS

If you’d like to become a frequent cookie baker, I suggest you invest in a few cookie sheets (the kind with insulated bottoms and no side rims). They’re cheap, easy to store, and most important, if you use them just for cookies and use a separate set of baking trays for savory cooking (such as roasting vegetables), you won’t have to worry about your cookies tasting like garlic or whatever you last roasted. If you don’t have cookie sheets, line your regular baking trays with foil to prevent this flavor spillover. For most cookies made with butter, you really don’t need to grease your cookie sheets, but it never hurts to spray them lightly with vegetable oil spray or grease them with a little softened butter.

intensely chocolate brownies

Makes 8 to 12 or possibly more servings

These are insanely rich, dense, and moist, so you can cut them very small and they’ll serve a crowd. And I guarantee you, that crowd will be pleased. They’ll keep for several days in a tightly sealed container at room temperature, and they freeze well too. Be sure to allow time to let the butter come to room temperature for about an hour before you start baking.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, plus a little extra for the pan

1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup (packed) light brown sugar

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1. About an hour ahead of time, unwrap the butter and place it in a large bowl. Use a table knife to cut it into 1-inch pieces, and let it stand at room temperature to soften.

2.