When trick-or-treating kids knock on your door this Halloween, treat them to these soft, chewy cookies that are sweet and a bit fruity. Bits of dried mangoes complement the chocolate flavor and provide the orange colors of the occasion. Happy Halloween, everyone!

 

Halloween Choco-Mango Cookies

 

• 1 c butter, softened
• ¾  c brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 c white sugar
• 3  eggs
• 2 ¼  c all-purpose flour
• ½  c unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½  tsp baking soda
• ¼  tsp salt
• 2  tsp vanilla extract
• ¼  tsp nutmeg
• 2  c semisweet chocolate chips
• 2  c dried mango, cut into ¼ -inch bits

 

1. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed for about one minute. Add the brown and white sugars, and beat the mixture until grainy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

 

1. In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Add vanilla and nutmeg. Mix well.

 

1. Fold in chocolate chips and dried mango bits. Cover the bowl and let the mixture rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

 

1. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 ºF (180 ºC). Drop mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls into ungreased cookie sheets, about two inches apart.
2. Bake, one cookie sheet at a time, in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes.

 

1. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool in the cookie sheets for around five minutes.

 

1. With a flat spatula, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Makes around 80 cookies.

 

 

For more tips, recipes and stories, visit author’s blog, www.normachikiamco.com, and Facebook fan page, www.facebook.com/normachikiamco. Follow on Twitter @NormaChikiamco.

 

Cook’s tips

 

To soften the butter, bring it out of the refrigerator and leave at room temperature  about 30 minutes before starting to bake.

 

While beating the mixture, stop the electric mixer occasionally and scrape down the sides of the bowl using a flat spatula.

 

If desired, reserve about ¼ c each of the mango bits and chocolate chips. Use these to decorate the cookies with funny faces. Decorate the cookies before you bake them.