Chewy Chocolate Mint Bites

I recently had the pleasure of indulging in Dancing Deer's Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. Oh my. I'm not a big mint person, but these cookies took the cake. Or took the cookie. Whatev. So I set out to try to replicate it as best as possible.

These little bites are inspired by a recipe from weightwatchers.com are close, but I guess since I'm not a baker, I can't expect myself to be able to replicate a professionally made cookie. Nonetheless, these came out nice a cris outside and chewy inside. The addition of the mint (which was part of my altering the original recipe) is really refreshing. I ate 2 bites about 30 minutes ago and my breath still feels minty fresh.

What kills me is that this is a "Weight Watchers" recipe. They are 1 point per BALL. They are only 1 inch each in diameter, which means you have to eat at least 3-4 for a real snack. Which means its really 3-4 points per serving, which defeats the WW purpose. At any rate, I've added the WW tag to this entry, but WW readers be advised that I wouldn't recommend it as a really great WW choice.

non-stick cooking spray
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cup Splenda
4 oz unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Coat two nonstick cookie sheets with cooking spray. Place cocoa, margarine and sugar in a medium bowl; beat with an electric mixer. Add applesauce, vanilla and peppermint; beat to blend. In another small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into cocoa batter with a wooden spoon. (Mixture will be on the dry side.) Shape batter into 48 marble-sized balls. Arrange balls 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. (Note: cookies will cook in marble-shapes. They won't spread.)Remove from oven and allow cookies to stand for 1 minute. Remove to wire rack and cool; sprinkle with powdered sugar. (Note: Store extra cookies in freezer-safe containers or plastic bags to maintain their freshness.)

Yields 1 cookie per serving.

WW info: 1 point per cookie