MINT MOON PIES RECIPES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat sugar and oil until crumbly. Add egg; beat for 1 minute. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Gradually beat into sugar mixture. Add milk and mix well. (Dough will be sticky.) With lightly floured hands, roll dough into 3/4-in. balls., Place 2 in. apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. , Flatten slightly with a glass coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 4-5 minutes or until edges are set and tops are cracked. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool., In a small bowl, combine butter and confectioners' sugar until crumbly. Beat in extract, food coloring if desired and milk. Spread on the bottoms of half of the cookies; top with remaining cookies.

Steps:

• Make cookies: In a large bowl, add flour and sift in cocoa powder. Add salt and baking powder, then whisk to combine.In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale, 3 minutes.Add egg and vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined, 1 minute more. (If the mixture starts to look separated, beat until it reaches the consistency of a thick cake batter, 1 minute more.)Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients, one big spoonful at a time. Mix until dough comes together in large clumps. Be careful not to overmix. If there’s still flour at the bottom of the bowl, fold it in with a spatula.On a clean work surface, press dough into a ball and divide into 2 equal halves.Roll one half of the dough between two 14"-long pieces of parchment paper to 1/2" thick. Slide onto a baking sheet and refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes. Repeat with second half.Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Starting with the first sheet of dough, stamp out cookies with a 23/4"-round cookie cutter and place on baking sheet. Roll scraps and repeat until all dough is used. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Bake until cookies appear dry around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet, 10 minutes. Gently slide parchment paper and cookies onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Meanwhile, if making the marshmallow cream filling from scratch, prepare it: Place the cold water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Use a fork to combine as soon as the powder hits the water so that it doesn’t clump. The gelatin will absorb the water and gel quickly. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, start whisking the egg whites on low speed. Add the sugar, corn syrup and water to a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the syrup reaches 241°F on a digital thermometer, about 15 minutes. After about5 minutes, you will see thousands of tiny bubbles simmering under the surface of the water, trying to erupt. Let it keep cooking.Bubbles will then form around the edge of the saucepan at around 6 minutes, and those bubbles will start dancing around, trying to make their way to the center of the pan at around 7 minutes. The syrup will start bubbling more aggressively, and the tiny bubbles that were trapped underneath will break their way to the surface. By 10 minutes, the bubbles will be only on the surface, and eventually, they will take longer and longer to pop. By 15 minutes, there will be bubbles all over, some big and some small, and some defiantly holding their shape. At this point, crank up the speed on the mixer to high. The egg whites should be just starting to form peaks as the sugar syrup reaches 244°F. While the sugar is cooking, scoop the gelatin into a small saucepan. Heat on the lowest setting just until the gelatin melts, which happens quickly. Pour the hot syrup into the whisking egg whites by setting the pot just along the lip of the bowl and drizzling the hot sugar on the side of the bowl so that it doesn’t splash. Pour in the melted gelatin (if it has again solidified, just stick it back on the stove on the lowest setting until it melts) and continue to whisk on high speed for 1 minute.Add the vanilla. Reduce the speed to medium and continue to whisk until the mixture cools slightly so that the mixing bowl isn’t hot to the touch, 4 to 5 minutes Immediately transfer the marshmallow filling to a piping bag fitted with a large tip (such as Wilton 2A) to prevent it from setting.(If you don’t have a piping bag, no problem—you can fill the cookies using a spoon. Make moon pies: Make the moon pies: Set half the cookies on your work surface. Pipe or spoon a mound of filling (about 2 tablespoons) onto the center of half the cookies. Let the cookies sit undisturbed for 15 minutes so the filling starts to set. (If using store-bought marshmallow creme, transfer cookies to the freezer at this point to firm up.) Place the second cookie on top of the filling (don’t press—the weight of the cookie is enough to sandwich it). Let the cookies sit at room temperature for 3 hours.  Place cookies on a wire rack with a tray underneath. Spoon melted chocolate over cookies and use the back of the spoon to coax it down the sides. Let set, 30 minutes. Remove moon pies from the rack with a butter knife.