Most people have a nostalgic cookie when they think of Christmas cookies. Maybe it’s sugar cookies that were decorated for Santa, maybe it’s something like Buckeye balls. For me, it’s mint chocolate chip cookies. My mom loves mint chocolate and would always make two batches, one of regular chocolate chip and one of mint chocolate chip cookies. Maybe she made them other times of the year too, but I only remember them during the holidays.
Mint chocolate chip cookies are a simple chocolate chip cookie (adapted from my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies) but mint chips are added. Now, for mint chips you have a lot of options. I feel like when I was a kid you could just buy mint chocolate chips. I never see those in stores though. You can find mint chips though, and if you use those you’re going to want to do half mint, half chocolate chips (go with semi-sweet or dark).
If you can’t find mint chips, you have a lot of options, you could use mint m&m’s, chopped peppermint bark, or Andes mints. During the holidays there are tons of options for mint chocolate. I personally went with Andes mints as they are more a semi sweet or dark chocolate and peppermint. This year I went with their cookie crunch variety for just a little bit of extra crunch.
You want to make sure you use a mint chocolate candy though, because we aren’t adding peppermint extract to the dough. What makes these cookies so good is that it’s a regular cookie base, but just bits of mint. The sweet and mint and chocolate all go so well together. If you love mint chocolate, you will love these cookies. They are simple and delicious. These are one of my most favorite cookies and I find it VERY difficult to not eat 5-6 at a time.
Baking Tips
The amount of chocolate added to your recipe is highly subjective. If you LOVE chocolate, add more! I personally like a good balance of base cookie to chocolate (or mint chocolate here) so I go on the conservative side.
This is written as a chilled dough recipe. I know this bums a lot of people out but honestly, your cookies will taste better and have superior texture. Can you bake them without chilling? Yes. I would recommend chilling for at least 30 minutes if you really don’t want to wait to help your cookie dough not spread quite as much. This will help you have a little bit thicker and chewier cookie.
Can you freeze these? Yes! If you are working on a cookie box and not doing everything in 1-2 days, after these have cooled place them in a freezer safe bag, get as much air out as possible and these will stay fresh 3-6 months.
As always, use a scale to measure your ingredients! Your bakes will have exactly the right amount of ingredients and you also will have less dishes to wash! Double win.
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies Key Ingredients
- Peppermint – Peppermint is quintessential winter flavor. I’m not sure if they exist but we don’t want standard mint (think toothpaste), but most of the candies you’ll find will just say mint. Whether you are using mint chips or peppermint bark, this is the star flavor in these cookies.
- Chocolate – You can make these with milk or dark or semi sweet but I personally prefer semi-sweet. It pairs nicely with peppermint and also helps give more depth than milk chocolate without too much bitterness like you may find in an ultra dark. Use your favorite though.
- Dark brown sugar – Dark brown sugar, in my opinion, is what gives chocolate chip cookies a lot of it’s distinct texture and taste. We use more brown sugar than granulated to help create a chewy cookie with caramel notes.
Ingredients
- 225 g Unsalted butter 1 cup, room temperature
- 100 g Granulated sugar ½ cup
- 170 g Dark brown sugar ¾ cup + 1 tbsp
- 2 large Eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- 280 g AP flour 2⅓ cup
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 60 g Chopped semi-sweet chocolate ~¼ cup
- 264 g Andes Mints, chopped 2 boxes
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add flour, salt and baking soda and whisk together. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with paddle attached, or a large bowl and your hand mixer, add softened butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Cream the butter and sugar together until lightened in color and a creamy fluffy texture (2-4 minutes).
- Add your eggs, and mix until well incorporated and dough is creamy and smooth.
- Add in your vanilla and mix in.
- Add in your dry ingredients and mix with a spoon or rubber spatula until cookie dough comes together. Do not overmix your dough, as this will create a tough textured cookie.
- Add in your chopped mints and chopped chocolate and stir throughout the cookie dough so evenly incorporated.
- Chill your dough. I personally, find it easier to scoop cookie dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet – dough balls can be very close together – and chill the dough pre scooped. However you can chill the dough in the bowl as well, dough will just be a little more difficult to scoop out of the refrigerator. Either way, cover and chill dough for at least 30 minutes, preferably for 24 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Bake your cookies with about 3 inches between them on the center rack for 11 minutes. Cookies will be just set when coming out of the oven. Let them sit for about 1 minute on the cookie sheet and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to a week. Enjoy!
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