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.
Absolutely delicious!!! I’ve made these multiple times. I skipped the chilling this time because I didn’t plan ahead. I didn’t notice a difference taste wise. The only difference was that they actually flattened themselves, where as you have to manually flatten them if you chill them otherwise they will be puffs. I also never chop up the chips, i just put them all in the batter.
Hi Karen, thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I have been looking for some new cookie recipes to try and now I can’t wait to whip up a batch of these. Mint choc-chip ice cream has always been my favorite! Thanks for all the helpful tips too.
These are delicious cookies! I have made them several timed and family and friends all love them. Thank you!
My superior absolutely loves these cookies!!! So I have baked these every year.. this is my third year.
Anyway, just wondering if you have a convection oven because it always takes twice the amount of time to bake in my non convection oven.
Thanks!
Hey Lindsey! I’ve never made these in a convection oven. Every oven is different though! I’m so glad you are loving the recipe!! Thanks for reviewing!
Karen – I love cookies but not a fan of soft cookies. If I left the extra egg yolk out would they be crispier or would that just ruin the cookie?
Hi Sally! I’m not sure, I haven’t tried it!
I love mint chocolate chip everything and these were so good! I used an equal amount of mint extract because I couldn’t find peppermint ANYWHERE. They definitely did not taste like toothpaste! They were just full of mint chocolate chip goodness! Of course when I went grocery shopping a couple days later, BAM they had peppermint. I did get it and I’m going to make these again to see what the taste difference is. I also didn’t chop up the chocolate chips; I just put all the chips in the batter. My only issue is that these cookies did not flatten AT ALL. I made a second batch and just flattened them myself before putting them in the oven.
Absolutely love these cookies!!! I made one change, instead of peppermint flavoring, I used Mint flavoring. I will be sending these to our son stationed overseas. My boys all love chocolate and mint. New favorite!!
This was exactly what I was looking for and they turned out perfectly! No extra ingredients that I didn’t already have and they tasted delicious, and very easy, thank you!!!
These are Amazing!!! Better than a thin mint!
My brother and I made these earlier and they turned out pretty good! They resembled scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream and tasted like it too! They are delicious! The only note I have though is that I think 3 and 1/4 cups of flour is too much. We used that much like the recipe called for and our dough was very thick and we could barely incorporate the chocolate chips or scoop it out of the bowl. I had to add water to thin the dough so we could scoop it. Also, after the cookies baked, they were very thick, puffy, and had a texture more like cake than a cookie. If you don’t like your cookies like this, I would recommend only using 2 and 3/4 cups of flour instead because that’s what we use for our regular chocolate chip recipe and they always turn out great. It was a great recipe otherwise, though!
Hi Erin! if you skip spooning and leveling your flour, then yes, you should use less flour :) I’m guessing you scooped your flour, which packs it in. Too much! Next time, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off. 3 and 1/4 cups is perfect 👍
I made them omg they are the best chocolate chip mint cookies I’ve ever had. I’ve never tried a extra egg yolk and a cookie before I’m wondering does this work in most cookies?
My grandson and I made these cookies. They are delicious I added a little more peppermint extract and we loved them.
Hi, these look delicious and I plan on baking them this week. I want to half the recipe, but I’m not sure how to half the eggs. Do you have any advice? Thanks!
Hi Sara! I would try using 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. Haven’t tried it but I think it will be fine. Let me know how it goes!
Hi there, I made these today, they were wonderful! The dough is great to work with, chilled or not…I tried both ways. I bought 4 Hershey’s Cookies n Mint chocolate bars and chopped them up. Added half to the dough along with the chocolate chips, and the rest into the tops after they had baked. I decreased the peppermint to half a tsp, and added 1 tsp cookies and cream emulsion. Fabulous idea to chop some of the chocolate chips, looks pretty and tastes amazing. My stepson said they were a solid contender for top cookie 2020…and I pretty much bake non stop, so that’s saying a lot! Thanks for a great recipe and really helpful tips.
Hey if the kids approve, then you know you’ve found a good one Barbie! So glad it was a hit. Thanks for sharing all your notes! So helpful!
Wonderful recipe! Made these today- big hit! I made them smaller, but still took my oven 8 minutes. Soooo good. Next time I will add a bit more food coloring, wasn’t quite as pretty as yours, I only had a a tint of green w/ 10 drops. Also re: the flour- yes, I’ve learned the hard way to spoon and level- makes all the difference. Same for real butter vs. margarine. I’m a novice- started baking during the summer and have learned by trial and error. So enjoy your recipes/blog! Thanks for a delicious and easy recipe!
Can I make these ahead of time for Christmas and freeze.Thank you
Absolutely Jeanne! You can do it now and they will still be good at Christmas. But I would recommend, for an even fresher taste, making the dough, shaping into balls, and freezing in ziplocks. Then bake when you want them later. Either way will work great! Enjoy!
Thanks for a delicious recipe! My 8 year old daughter and I made this today. We followed the recipe as written except we used only 1 cup of sugar (it was plenty sweet enough for us), 6 drops of food coloring for a lighter green shade, and 1/4 tsp of food grade peppermint essential oil instead of 1 tsp extract.
It sounds delicious Alice! Good idea using the essential oils, I bet it was great. Thank you for commenting!