MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP REFRIGERATOR COOKIES

MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP REFRIGERATOR COOKIES

with cashews and coconut. The lightest textured chocolate chip cookie you’ll ever taste!

Makes 5 dozen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 stick salt-free margarine, I used Fleishman’s brand

zest of 1 orange, plus 6 T. of the juice, strained

1 c. dark brown sugar, firmly packed

2 t. vanilla extract

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

2 c. all-purpose flour

1-1/2 c. flaked coconut

1/2 c. crushed cashews; place  whole cashews in paper bag and pound with flat side of hammer or bottom of heavy skillet

1 c. chocolate chips

15 fresh mint leaves, stacked, cut into thin strips, then cut crosswise into tiny bits

Combine margarine orange zest and brown sugar in large mixing bowl. Stir and mash till creamy.

Add juice of orange, vanilla, salt and baking soda. Stir again.

Add flour, and stir till all flour is moistened and dough-like.

Add coconut, cashews, chocolate chips and mint. Stir to evenly distribute.

Cover cookie dough and refrigerate overnight.

The next day: Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake on middle rack in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove to cooling rack.

Notes: It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find animal-free margarine. Fleishman’s makes a salt-free margarine that’s animal-free, and just about all markets carry it; their regular margarine isn’t animal-free.

Zest the orange before you cut it in half to squeeze the juice.

Fifteen leaves of mint is not excessive.