Chocolate pot of gold cookies with a candy glass window that shows gold candy coins (gold M&Ms) inside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar. Cream until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Combine cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and flour in a small bowl. Stir into wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated.
Flatten the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap or place it in a zip-top bag. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Just before the dough is ready to come out of the refrigerator, crush the clear mint candies into a fine powder using a food processor, high-powered blender, or a meat mallet.
Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Then, roll out about half of the dough to ¼ inch thickness between two silicone mats, two pieces of parchment paper, or plastic wrap.
Cut out 8 pot of gold cookies using a 3-inch wide cauldron-shaped cookie cutter.
Leave the cutout cookies in place on your silicone mat, parchment paper, or plastic wrap, and place them in the freezer for 5 minutes. This will help your cookies to keep their shape.
Peel the cookies off the silicone mat, parchment paper, or plastic wrap and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Then, cut holes in the center of each cookie using a 2-inch round cookie cutter.
Chill the cookies in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Now, re-roll the excess dough into some of the chilled dough and roll it out to ⅛-inch thickness.
Re-roll the remaining dough together, roll it out to 3/16-inch thickness, cut out 8 more pots of gold cookies, chill in the freezer, peel off, set on a paper-lined baking sheet, and then chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Start by baking the trays of ⅛-inch thick Top Cookies. Bake these cookies for 11 minutes, then remove them from the oven and immediately fill each hole with the crushed candies. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for about 3 more minutes just until the candy fully melts and becomes clear. Do not overheat the candy or it can burn and bubble badly.
Bake the remaining trays of cookies for 10-14 minutes until the tops of the cookies look dry.
Pipe a line of chocolate cookie icing on the backside of a Middle Cookie and press that cookie onto one of the Bottom Cookies. Pour some gold candies into the hole and spread them into an even layer.
Pipe a row of chocolate icing on that Middle Cookie and set one of the candy window Top Cookies on top.
Allow the cookies to dry for at least 30 minutes before moving.
Repeat until all of your pot of gold cookies are filled with candy and assembled.
Excess cookie dough
You may have some excess dough. I find it's best not to re-roll the dough too many times or the cookies get tough. So instead of making more pot of gold cookies, just make some small cookies to enjoy as a snack.
Melting the mint powder
Keep a close eye on the cookies as the candy melts.
You want it to just melt enough so that all the candy is clear, then remove it from the oven. If the candy gets too hot, lots of bubbles will form and they will not pop, so your candy windows won't be clear.
Storage
These cookies will stay fresh for about a week if kept in a cool dry place. Do not refrigerate.
Pot of Gold Cookies https://hungryhappenings.com/peek-inside-chocolate-pot-of-gold-cookies/