These soft and chewy Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies are a minty twist on traditional sugar cookies. They are full of Andes creme de menthe chocolate chips and peppermint extract and are baked into a soft, aromatic cookie.
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies are a great sugar cookie for anytime of the year, but make a wonderful addition to the holiday season. This recipe creates a big, soft cookie with loads of mint flavor in each bite. They're made with a generous amount of mint chocolate pieces and pair perfectly with this easy peppermint hot cocoa on a crisp winter evening. They also make a great holiday dessert along with mint chocolate cheesecake.
Our mint cookies are the peppermint version of these traditional Christmas sugar cookies. We love to play around with our sugar cookie recipe, which we biasly think is the absolute best soft sugar recipe you'll find. We've even turned them into pink sugar cookies and even bunny feet sugar cookies!
Ingredients
- Andes creme de menthe baking chips: the best part of this recipe is the delicious mint flavor that takes these cookies over the top!
- Peppermint extract: you can use a store bought version or make your own mint extract.
- Vanilla extract: you can also easily make your own homemade vanilla extract.
- Baking essentials: unsalted butter, white sugar, all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
- Milk: I use a small amount milk in my dough. This is the secret to making soft sugar cookies that stay soft, even after a few days!
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for quantities.
Instructions
STEP 1: Using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the softened butter and white sugar on medium speed until combined. Add the vanilla extract, peppermint extract and egg and beat for another minute, until the mixture is crumbly and well combined.
STEP 2: Add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat for 2-3 minutes until well combined, using a spatula to push down any flour stuck to the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on medium until the dough is smooth.
STEP 3: Mix in the Andes creme de menthe baking chips on medium speed until distributed throughout the dough. Chill the bowl of dough for at least 1 hour. *Chilling is optional and will give you fatter cookies. You can bake the cookies immediately without chilling but the cookies will be flatter.
STEP 4: Once chilled, preheat the oven to 400℉ and fill a bowl with about ½ cup creme de menthe chips. Roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and dip into the baking chips. Place the dough balls 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
STEP 5: Bake for 7-9 minutes, until the edges just begin to brown. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Then transfer cookies to a cooling rack using a spatula. Let cool for 10-15 minutes more before serving.
Substitutions
- Sugar - if you don't love using a lot of refined sugars in your cooking, feel free to use unrefined coconut sugar to replace the white sugar. Do this as a 1:1 substitution.
- Creme de menthe baking chips - you can also use green mint chips or creme de menthe after dinner mints broken into small pieces, or any combination of the above.
Variations
- Make them green: you have a few options for turning your mint chocolate chip cookies green. One is to add a few drops of green food coloring to the dough (right before adding the creme de menthe chips to the dough). The other is to
- Add fresh mint: have some fresh mint in your garden waiting to be used up? Add a few tablespoons of fresh chopped mint to your dough along with the baking chips for some extra burst of fresh mint flavor. I often do this when I make fruit smoothies and the pop of mint makes them extra refreshing.
Equipment
Use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer with a dough hook attachment for the best results. Avoid using a hand whisk.
How To Store Cookies
Store mint chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. They can be frozen for about 6 months.
Recipe Tips
- Butter should be at room temperature and slightly softened before adding to the dough mixture. You can leave it out on the counter for a few hours or if you forget to do this, microwave it for about 20-30 seconds, being careful not to melt it.
- Chilling the dough is optional. If you bake the cookies right away while the dough is warm and soft, the cookies will bake flat but still be soft and chewy. If you chill the dough so that it's cold and firm before baking, you will get fatter cookies. There is no difference in taste or texture whichever one you choose.
- Dipping the dough balls into extra mint chips is optional. If you don't do this, the chips won't stick out of the cookies as much as they would if you do.
- Don't over bake the cookies or they will become dried out. The bottom edges should just begin to brown when you remove them from the oven.
Recipe FAQs
The secret to creating a really soft dough is to add a bit of milk. Doing so gives you a chewy cookie rather than a crunchy one.
Yes, mint cookies can be prepared up to 6 months ahead of time which is particularly great for busy holiday bakers! You can prepare the dough, then cover in plastic wrap and place in an airtight freezer safe container and freeze for about 6 months. Or, bake the cookies in their entirety and freeze them for the same amount of time.
Related Recipes
Recipe
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ tablespoon milk
- 1 cup Andes creme de menthe baking chips
Instructions
- Using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the softened butter and white sugar on medium speed until combined. Add the vanilla extract, peppermint extract and egg and beat for another minute, until the mixture is crumbly and well combined.
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat for 2-3 minutes until well combined, using a spatula to push down any flour stuck to the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on medium until the dough is smooth.
- Mix in the Andes creme de menthe baking chips on medium speed until distributed throughout the dough. Chill the bowl of dough for at least 1 hour.
- Once chilled, preheat the oven to 400℉ and fill a bowl with about ½ cup creme de menthe chips. Roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and dip into the baking chips. Place the dough balls 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes, until the edges just begin to brown. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Then transfer cookies to a cooling rack using a spatula. Let cool for 10-15 minutes more before serving.
Elaine
I love mint anything so I tried your cookies and now I'm dreaming about when I'm going to make them again!
Dennis
My wife loves mint chocolate chip, so I made these cookies for her book club! Everyone loved them!
Giangi Townsend
We all love chocolate chips, and as soon as I saw your recipe, we had to make it. Amazing!!! I love the mint flavor and we ate the whole batch.
Thank you for sharing.
Jacqueline Debono
You had me at mint chocolate! I have loved that combo since regularly sneaking a couple of my grandmother's After Eights as a child! These would make great Christmas cookies! Definitely on my to-make list!
Tammy
Ooh the idea of mint chocolate chips sounds so good right now! I love that idea and these look fabulous!
Kathryn
These were the best mint cookies! I love how easy they were and we eat them with vanilla ice cream and it was such a treat!
Tristin
Mmm, these mint chocolate cookies were so good it was hard not to eat the entire batch by myself!
Jessica
I saw this recipe and thought "how have I never had these in my life!" So easy, yet so minty perfect. Without being a full chocolate cookie. New favorite for sure!
Lisa Grant
My daughter loves chocolate mint ice cream. So I am sure she will love these cookies when I make them for her!
Amy Liu Dong
I love this recipe! I made this recipe for the kids, it is so easy and delicious!