Double Mint Chocolate Cookies

There’s been a mint chocolate thing going on this blog since last fall when my daughter decided it was her favorite flavor: we had mint chocolate marshmallows, mint chocolate fudge, and let’s not forget these brownie cookies which don’t actually have mint, but their story started with a ‘mint brownie cookie’. 

When it came to the idea of having a specific recipe dedicated to mint chocolate, I thought I’d create a new double chocolate chip cookie recipe that we could just ‘mintify’, if you will. Because when you strip away the mint (which is fairly easy to do in a recipe like this), it’s just a double chocolate cookie really. It’s a little different than my others, these spread more and thinner edges than my usual chunky/thick cookies. As a thin mint lover, I kind of feel like that’s the right vibe for them. 

Note: This recipe has origins in my small batch double chocolate chip cookie recipe (note the egg whites!) but I wanted a slimmer cookie so I changed up a few things.  

Recipe Ingredients 

Butter: European or american. The latter will cause a bit more spread, so add another tablespoon of flour if you’re using it (esp if you are measuring by scale!). Unsalted or salted is fine, just balance it against the added sea salt; so if you’re using salted reduce the fine salt by ¼ tsp. 

Sugar: We’re doing a mix of granulated and brown. Brown gives a softer interior, a little note of ‘caramel’ flavor and granulated helps the cookies spread wider. 

Egg: You’ll only use egg whites, be sure they’re large (not extra large!). 

Flour: All purpose, I use king arthur’s. If you’re using a flour with a lower protein content like gold medal add another tablespoon of flour to the dough. 

Extract: Both vanilla and mint extract. Please use a good quality peppermint extract! I don’t want your cookies to taste like toothpaste. 

Chocolate: Below there’s a section discussing what works as an add-in for the cookies. Want to skip adding anything? The cookies probably will be thicker but it’ll work. 

Tips to make perfect Mint Chocolate Cookies 

Melting: Set it in the microwave until it’s only partially melted, you can also do this over the stove – but stop before it’s fully melted. 

Whisking: A type of emulsion needs to happen in this dough: once you cream together the butter and sugar, you’ll add the egg whites and whisk whisk whisk until it’s shiny and cohesive. You should not see any separate butter. 

Chilling: This dough has melted butter and needs to chill for the butter to firm up again, and for the flour to hydrate before you bake it. We’re also leaving it uncovered in the fridge, like we do in my brownie cookies, so that some of the ‘water’ evaporates from the dough. If you don’t leave it long enough or if you cover it, the cookies will spread too much. 

Baking: Since we won’t be able to spy golden edges on these dark cookies, you’ll need to look for other points of doneness. I look at the center where there is no chocolate visible – does it look wet or doughy? Remember the bigger your cookies the longer they’ll need to bake, smaller will bake quicker. 

How much mint extract should you add to chocolate cookie dough? 

Unlike vanilla, with mint extract a little goes a very long way. I tend to hold back on the mint a bit for fear of the bake smelling and tasting like toothpaste. If you know you have a good quality peppermint extract (I use the whole foods brand), you can probably go up to ½ tsp and still be safe. 

If you have a mint plant, or a chocolate mint plant…. 

…. you can use them to make this recipe instead of using the extract! (Can you tell I grow both plants? I learned this from this recipe years ago.) You’ll use half of a cup of mint leaves and add them to the butter (add another two tablespoons of butter) to a pan and set over low heat.  

As you melt the butter, it’ll become infused with mint flavor. Once it’s melted remove it from the heat and leave the mint leaves in there for another 5 minutes or so. 

Then run the mix through a fine mesh sieve to press out the butter from the leaves. Make sure you measure it so you still have 113g or ½ cup before you begin making the cookie dough. Then proceed as normal, and skip the extract. 

What kind of chocolate should I add to the dough? 

You’ve got options! I love, and for most mint chocolate recipes, will use theo’s 70% dark mint chocolate. I also tried this recipe with chocolove’s 55% peppermint in dark chocolate and it was fabulous. If you are going dark chocolate, just be sure the cocoa solid level isn’t above 72% because it’ll burn while the cookie bakes. 

Other than chopping up a mint chocolate bar, you can chop up some andes mints or get the andes mint chunks, after eights, guittard mint baking chips, etc. Bear in mind that the type of chocolate you use will affect cookie spread: if it’s a chip designed not to spread much, the cookie will be thicker, if it’s an eating chocolate it will melt quickly in the oven and cause the cookie to thin out. 

I don’t think either is preferable in the case of these cookies but it’s something to keep in mind so you won’t be disappointed by what comes out of the oven. 

 I want you to get the cookie you want to eat so please read these two following sections to understand cookie science before you bake. 

My cookies spread too much 

Cookies tend to spread *too* much when they have too little flour or too much butter. In recipes where the butter is melted, unless the recipe developer designed them to be baked immediately, they’ll often need a rest period for the butter to firm up and the flour to hydrate. 

Here are some possible reasons a cookie will spread too much: 

• The dough wasn’t chilled long enough (for the butter to firm up, the flour to hydrate)
• The flour was under measured, or had a very low protein content 
• There was too much butter 

My cookies didn’t spread at all/enough 

Cookies don’t spread when they don’t have enough ingredient agents to encourage them to spread. Things that make cookies spread: sugar, butter, and leavening. It’s also possible the flour in the dough gets over-hydrated. Here’s a quick run-down of why a cookie won’t spread: 

• Too much flour (often happens when you’re measuring by cup/volume and aren’t careful)  or overhydrated flour (when you’ve left it in the fridge too long – this is less likely but it can occasionally happen) 
• Too little butter (will happen if you melt, and some is lost when melting) 
• Chocolate chips, add ins that are not designed to melt. Some cookies (like my one yolk cookies) rely on the push of melting chocolate to encourage them to spread. This particular recipe doesn’t but chocolate chunks from eating chocolate bars will encourage a better spread. 

Making mint chocolate cookie dough ahead of time 

Once the dough has sat in the fridge for a few hours, I’d transfer it to the freezer for longer keeping: portion the dough into cookie scoops on a parchment lined plate or pan and freeze for 10 minutes until solid. Then transfer to a ziplock bag to seal and freeze. They’ll need a couple of extra minutes if baked from frozen. The cookie dough balls will keep for 2 months or so.

Mint Chocolate Cookies

Chewy middled, crispy edged mint chocolate cookies loaded with dark mint chocolate!

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 12 minutes mins

Chill Time: 2 hours hrs

Yields: 16 cookies

5 from 1 vote

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Ingredients

• 113g or ½ cup unsalted butter melted
• 140g or ⅔ cups granulated sugar
• 50g or ¼ cups brown sugar
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 large egg whites
• 40g or ⅓ cup dutch cocoa
• 140g or 1 cup plus 1 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼-½ teaspoon peppermint extract
• 150g dark mint chocolate bar chopped into large chunks and small bits

Method

• Melt the butter in a large bowl, add the sugars and whisk very well - until you cannot see the butter separately. Add the salt and vanilla and whisk for 30 seconds.
• Add egg whites and whisk for at least a full minute, until the mixture is light and shiny.
• Fold in the dry ingredients and the chocolate with a rubber spatula.
• Set the bowl in the fridge uncovered for at least two hours. If you would like to leave it longer, cover it with plastic wrap.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F and line two greased baking sheets with parchment paper (don’t bake these on a pan without parchment!!)
• Portion into 2 tablespoons per cookie and bake at 350 F for about 10-13 minutes until they don’t look ‘wet’ in the center. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes before moving.

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