These Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies are like eating mint chip ice cream in the form of a warm, buttery, gooey cookie. They’re crisp on the edges while perfectly tender and chewy in the center. They are SO easy to make, and perfect for Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, or any random Tuesday! Originally posted February 24, 2015.
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
I totally forgot Truman at home when I was heading out somewhere today. I got halfway to where I was going before I realized I had left him napping. Here’s the part where I rush home right?
Nah. I figured Truman could use some lessons on independence anyway. I mean, our house is pretty baby proof, right? He can deal.
Just kidding! I’m not a monster! But I really did finish my (very short) errand before heading home. In my defense, Truman was asleep the whole time, so he didn’t miss me. Idle Parent of the Year Award right here guys.
People who know my kids are always going on about how laid back and “easy” they are. They just don’t really demand as much attention as some kids. (I know I’m going to get major payback come the teen years). I think that if my kids lived thousands of years ago, they would have been eliminated by natural selection by now. I would be out picking berries or something, set my baby down somewhere, and forget about them because they are so quiet.
My sister was saying one time that natural selection is probably the reason toddlers are so adorably cute. After the 15th tantrum in a row, the ugly ones were removed from the evolutionary cycle, or in other words strangled by their frazzled mothers.
The result? Completely non-strangle-able children. With duckfaces to boot.
Mint forever
Do you guys love Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream? True confession here…it’s not my favorite. I LOVE mint, but I hate the teeny tiny pieces of waxy chocolate. Why don’t they make Mint Fudge Swirl Ice Cream? Or how bout just MINT? I would love that.
Anyway, these cookies are perfect for me because I get All The Mint, minus waxy chocolate, plus gooey melty darkness. WIN. The secret for extra chocolate is to chop up half the chips. That way you get big pockets of chocolate with the small pieces adding the flavor throughout the cookie.
Ingredients For Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here’s what you’re going to need!
- Butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Peppermint extract
- Green food coloring
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Cream of tartar
- Kosher salt
- Dark chocolate chips. Semi sweet is fine too!
What brand of mint chocolate is best?
Good news, you don’t need any special mint chocolate to make these cookies! All you need is a little peppermint extract and some dark chocolate. And make sure you are using peppermint extract, not mint extract! Say no to toothpaste cookies!
How to make Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are SUPER easy to make. Here’s the basic idea:
- Beat together butter and sugar.
- Add in some eggs, peppermint extract, and food coloring.
- Add in dry ingredients.
- Add dark chocolate chips, half of them chopped.
- Refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour.
- Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes.
Now that you’ve got the basic overview, let’s talk details!
First things first, cream your butter and sugar together. Take a couple minutes to do this, let the chemistry happen! We’re not just doing this part for fun. You really need to beat for a couple minutes to get enough air beaten into your butter and sugar.
How to make chocolate chip cookies chewy
Keeping cookies chewy has a lot to do with the level of fat in your cookie dough. More fat = more chewiness. This recipe calls for lotsa butter (fat) and even an extra egg yolk, hold the white please.
This extra egg yolk brings in tons of flavorful moisture in addition to some extra fat, so don’t skip it. I know it’s kind of annoying to split an egg, but you won’t be annoyed once you bite into the center of your unbelievably gooey and chewy cookie!
Once your eggs are mixed in, you’ll add in the peppermint extract (peppermint! Not regular mint! Say no to toothpaste cookies!) and a few drops of green food coloring. Don’t go too wild, you can always add more. And keep in mind that the green color will intensify the longer it’s in the dough.
Once you’ve added in the flour and dry ingredients, it’s really important not to over beat your cookie dough. When the flour is mostly mixed in (but not all the way), add in your chocolate, scrape down the edges, and mix it the rest of the way. You can see in the photo below that I totally had lots of flour still on the edges when I added in my chocolate. The less beating, the better! Make sure you scrape down the sides, but the minute the flour streaks are gone, stop!
I also really love to chop half of my chocolate chips into itty bitty shards to get chocolate flavor in every single bite. So good!
How Long To Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies?
Once the dough is done and you have chosen NOT to eat all of it straight out of the bowl, bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes, or until BARELY starting to brown on the edges.
How To Make Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies Softer?
No over-baking!! The most important thing to remember for soft and chewy cookies is not to leave them in the oven too long! You will bake all the moisture and softness right out of them, no matter how much fat and moisture you add to your dough.
The centers should be mostly matte be (not -shiny) when you take them out, but a little shine is okay. No more shine in the center than a surface area about the size of a quarter. Tap the edge of the cookie with your finger. It should feel a bit firm. Knowing when to take cookies out of the oven takes a bit of practice, but don’t stress! You can do this!
Now for some general FAQ to help you get the BEST Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies of your life!
Tips for Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Use high quality chocolate
- Beat the butter and sugar together very well
- Don’t over beat the dough after adding flour (it will make your cookies tough)
- Chill the dough to help the flavors deepen, and to help your cookies bake up tall and not flat.
- Don’t over bake!
Why Are My Mint Cookies Flat?
Nobody wants a mint chocolate pancake. We want a gorgeously TALL, chewy, small mountain of a mint cookie. There are a few techniques that help us get there:
- Chill the cookie dough.
- Preheat your oven all the way (cold dough hitting a hot oven helps cookies not to melt flat.)
- Shape the dough balls into an egg shape, instead of a ball shape, and balance it on the end. This will help them stay tall in the middle while baking.
- Use the “spoon trick” as described in my Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. Basically, use a spoon to smoosh the edges of the cookie toward the center when they are JUST out of the oven. This manual shove helps the centers of the cookies stay fudgy, and gives the cookies that perfectly tall, round shape.
How To Make Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies Fluffy?
Fluffy is not really what we are going for with this cookie. Fluffy cookies could also be called cakey, and we don’t want fluffy cake. We want chewy cookies. Homemade cookies are crispy on the outside and moist and chewy on the inside. They puff up only slightly. Here’s what you need to remember:
- Don’t overmix the dough after adding flour, so that your cookies are nice and tender.
- Shape the dough balls into an egg shape and bake them on end (this makes them ultra fudgy in the centers
- DO NOT over bake! It dries out your cookies!
- Seal the cookies in an air-tight container as soon as they’ve cooled to keep them soft and chewy.
And that’s a wrap! These would be super fun to make for St. Patrick’s Day coming up! The bright green makes them so festive.
These cookies are also very popular at Christmas time. You could try changing it up by adding red food coloring to half the dough, and green to the other half. That would be so cute!
More recipes to love!
- Mint Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookies << Can’t be bothered to make these individually? Make one big one.
- Peppermint Crunch Sugar Cookies << These are so festive for Christmas!
- 30 Minute Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies << The classic, the best.
- Thin Mint Mint Cookies << You read that right, use the Girl Scout Cookies for the ultimate cookie
- Fudgy Mint Chocolate Brownies << Maybe you know it as a BYU staple. Either way – legit!
- Perfectly Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles << My absolute fav.
- The Softest Peanut Butter Cookies of Your Life << For real.
- Soft and Chewy Andes Mint Cookies << A classic!!
- Candy Lasses << These are some of my favorite cookies of all time!
- Easy Mint Chip Sweet Rolls from Crazy for Crust
- Mint Chip Brownie Ice Cream Squares from Glorious Treats
- Mint Chocolate Chip Fudge from Sally’s Baking Addiction
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Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 & 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract, or more to taste
- 10 drops green food coloring
- 3 & 1/4 cups flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 12 ounces dark chocolate chips, divided (semi sweet chips are fine!)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line one or more baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then beat on medium for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs + yolk, peppermint extract, and food coloring.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and combine until the flour is not quite incorporated.
- Add half of the chocolate chips to the dough.* Chop the other half coarsely, with a knife or in a food processor.
- Add the chopped chocolate to the dough, and mix until just combined.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for about an hour.**
- Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to form balls of dough and shape them into a long oval shape (not a ball shape, think more egg shape). Place them on the cookie sheet (the tall way) lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. These are very large cookies, I only did 8 cookies per pan.
- Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes, or until BARELY starting to brown on the edges. The centers should mostly be not-shiny when you take them out, but a little shine is okay.
- Let cool 5 minutes on the pan, then remove to a cooling rack.
OK. “Toothpaste cookies, lol? Sorry, I must disagree. And, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander – peppermint extract makes “Candy cane cookies”! If you use peppermint, you should use red food coloring, not green. I made these with spearmint extract, and I say NO to “Candy Cane Cookies”. I would dare to say that it is most likely that more people prefer spearmint to peppermint. Peppermint jumps right out there, takes full command of the taste buds, and overwhelms the palate. Spearmint is sweeter and milder and blends better with chocolate, along with many other flavors. Look at how popular mint chocolate chip ice cream is, and most of that is made with spearmint! As far as I am concerned, there IS no mint other than SPEARMINT.
Yes, well, I’m using peppermint extract because 1. I already have it, and 2. I’ve never seen spearmint extract on the grocery store shelves where I live, and although I’m sure I could order it online, I can’t be bothered.