Quick and easy to make, these chocolate mint cookies are a little unusual. They’re made with fresh mint, which gives them a certain freshness and summery pizazz. Enjoy them just as they are or serve them alongside ice cream. Vanilla or strawberry work particularly well.
Bodmin Plant & Herb Festival
The other day, I trawled through my recipe cuttings and scrawled scraps of paper in a desperate hunt for my rose meringue recipe. I failed to find it. This was unfortunate, but it had a happy outcome. I came across this recipe for chocolate mint cookies instead. It’s from the Bodmin Plant & Herb Festival and it uses fresh mint.
This is the first year we forgot to go to this annual event hosted by the Bodmin Plant & Herb Nursery and we are feeling rather aggrieved about it. As well as lots of plants and herbs for sale, there are a number of related stalls and events. One of the highlights for me, are the tasters of various fresh herb recipes. It’s a bit like a cocktail party. There you are examining a fragrant rose, when a plate of tempting treats appears under your nose. This year I missed out on Peppermint Truffles apparently. The recipes are all printed out and free for the taking. There is usually at least one I want to take away and this one for chocolate mint cookies must have caught my fancy one year – can’t think why!
Chocolate Mint Cookies
The chocolate mint cookies are very easy to make and hands on time is short. But it’s best to leave them to rest for an hour before baking. This means they may not be the best biscuits to make if you’re in a hurry. You’ll need a blender or food processor to make the required mint sugar, but all other equipment required is fairly basic.
The finished cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. The flavour of mint is refreshingly subtle and very different to using peppermint essence or peppermint oil. Very nice.
Other Chocolate Biscuit Recipes You Might Like
- Bourbon biscuits
- Chocolate cinnamon shortbread
- Nigel Slater’s chocolate cookies
- Chocolate Viennese whirls with vanilla buttercream & blackcurrant jam
- Nigella’s chocolate macaroons
- Chocolate, hazelnut & orange biscotti
Show Me
Chocolate Mint Cookies. PIN IT.
Chocolate Mint Cookies – The Recipe
Chocolate Mint Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 g (½ cup) plain chocolate
- 90 g (6 tbsp plus a bit more) brown sugar
- 3 sprigs of fresh spearmint (about 10 leaves)
- 1 large egg - I used a duck egg
- 100 g (½ cup) wholemeal spelt flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water (or a double boiler on medium low).
- Whizz the sugar, in a blender or food processor, with the mint until the leaves are finely chopped.
- Beat in the egg.
- Mix in the melted chocolate.
- Sift in the flour and baking powder. Mix until just combined.
- Leave to cool and rest for an hour.
- Spoon teaspoonfuls onto a baking tray lined with a silicone mat or baking paper (parchment paper, not wax paper).
- Bake at 170℃ (325℉, Gas 3) for 10 mins.
- Leave to cool for a couple of minutes then lift onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Made these tonight. I used garden mint, about 3 sprigs 8 inches long. The flavour is definitely subtler than using extract- more of a chocolate taste with a slight hint of mint than mint-chocolate. I liked it, but next time I’ll use a little more mint, and white flour and 1/2 tsp bp to make them less dense. I prefer the cookie dough to the cookies in the batch I made tonight 🙂
For anyone who doesn’t have a food processor, get a cheap mortar and pestle and grind up the sugar with the mint leaves. Mine was completely blended after 1 minute.
Thanks for posting this recipe- I never would have thought to use fresh mint in baking.
Thanks for letting us know how you got on Lisa. I haven’t made these in a long time, but yes, I think more mint would be good. Thanks also for the pestle and mortar tip. I need to revisit.
these sound delicious!
CityHippy – I suppose there are worse things caterpillars could smell of. Sorry you don’t have any mint though.
Nic – next time I make them I shall try peppermint and see what difference that makes.
Cakelaw – the taste is far more subtle than using peppermint oil, but worth a try I reckon 🙂
Myka – hope you enjoy!
Gloria – thank you.
amazing cookies!! gloria
Yummmm! I am gonna try all!
I love the idea of fresh mint in these cookies – it’s one I have never seen before, but I like it very much. I am a fan of peppermint Patties, so these biscuits are for me!
Love the spearmint choc combination – definitely trying these.
I would love to say I had abundance of mint growing, but alas, I have mint smelling green caterpillars instead…wonder if I could bake them in a biscuit? No probably not.
These look good choclette.
Dom – Good Luck
C – indeed, once you’ve got mint, you’re likely to keep it! Will have to be better organised next year and get the herb festival date in our calendar good and early.
Janice – I often use mint with strawberries, but it was fun to try it in baking for a change.
Maggie – that’s one of the things I really like about all these wonderful food blogs, you can pick up some great ideas.
Aveen – unless you’re planning on making a mountain of these cookies, I don’t think they’ll make much of an inroad on your mint, but they do taste good. I’ve ordered another preserving book today and that had a recipe for mint cordial – now that would probably use up a fair bit of mint.
Baking Addict – it was my first time baking with mint too.
Katie – they were just as you describe 😉
Blackbook – they were good
Oxslip – yes I did have the pink peppercorn one once years ago and very good I remember it being. When we were in Belguim last year I picked up a hot masala one of theirs which was really good. I really like their tobacco pouch packaging which reminds me of a favourite uncle doing his roll ups when I was young. Your mum did well to find a cheap bar – they’ve always seemed rather pricey, which is why I haven’t sampled many of them – yet. Now where did you say that shop was!
Chele – ha ha, once mint starts it’s hard to stop it growing.
Excellent! I’ve been searching for a way to use up some of the mint that is (over)growing in the pot on my balcony! Looks fab ;0)
Lovely, you have got a nice crisp shell on those, yum yum!
My Mum just gave me some dark chocolate with pink peppercorns (she got it cheap in TK Maxx somewhere in Cornwall), have you ever had? It’s surprising, but nice, some Belgian brand called Dolfin. (no dolphins harmed in the making).
oh yum! this sounds just delish:)
They look yummy. Love the slightly craggly top. They look like the kind of cookie thats still soft and gooey in the middle – yum!
Love the idea of using fresh mint – never seen that in a baked recipe before.
So pleased to find a cookie recipe using fresh mint, my garden is absolutely overrun with the stuff and I’m struggling to keep it under control – this will be a great way to use up some of the cuttings!
Brilliant way to use fresh herbs. I would never have thought to use fresh spearmint.
Love the idea of using fresh mint, must try that.
They sound fab, and I like the idea of using fresh mint. It’s pretty much the only thing growing in my garden, which doesn’t say much for my gardening skills because mint is apparently impossible to kill!
A pity you missed your plant and herb festival, it sounds like fun!
thanks C… can’t wait for email… I know I could wing it but due to commitments this week I only have one day to make it and I can’t get it wrong!
Kath – I’ll try and turn a blind eye – just this once!
Victoria – the fresh leaves give a very different taste to mint essence, far more subtle.
Dom – love to, although I was thinking more along the lines of popping over to you and being cooked for 😉 Now you’re a pro baker, surely you don’t need my advice BUT for what it’s worth and of course we like to be asked!!! There are sooooo many chocolate cakes, but I have a recipe before me for 19″x12″ tin – will e-mail!
Cheries – wouldn’t the world be boring without a bit of sin 😉
gosh this is one sinful blog,surely following
wow, fresh mint, genius! I have plenty of everything this recipe calls for so i’m think this weekend, you pop over and cook for me???
In other news I have been asked to make a chocolate birthday can for someone to feed 20!! I have ordered a 12 inch square cake tin but I have no idea which recipe to use or how much ingredients to use or how long to bake for… any help would be greatly appreciated!!!! xx
I love the use of real mint leaves – so much better than mint extract or creme de menthe. More subtle and less of an alcohol bite.
OOh I really like the sound of these, using fresh mint. I will give them a go. Would it be alright to use a hen egg do you think? 😉 x
Can I use something other than spelt in this recipe? It sounds delicious!
Ordinary wholemeal would work Eowyn, but I’m sure you could substitute plain white flour if that’s all you have. I just like my bakes to be a little bit on the healthy side 😉
I like to make my desserts as healthy as possible, but wasn’t sure if I could find spelt flour and whether there was an appropriate substitute that wouldn’t change the end result. It looks like I can find spelt in my local stores though (in Florida).
Thanks!
Great, that’s good news Eowyn 🙂
For the Americans reading this, I modified it to be approximately what the measurements should be. They turned out great! Next time I may use a bit more mint, though.
Melted about a 1/2 cup plain chocolate over a bowl of hot water (or a double boiler on med low).
Whizzed 6 Tbsp. (plus a little) brown sugar in a food processor with 3 sprigs of fresh spearmint (about 10 smallish leaves) until the leaves were finely chopped.
Beat in 1 large duck egg.
Mixed in the melted chocolate.
Sifted in about a 1/2 cup wholemeal spelt and 1/4 tsp baking powder.
Left to cool for an hour.
Spooned teaspoonfuls onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (parchment paper, not wax paper).
Baked at 325 for 10 mins.
Left to cool for a couple of minutes then lifted onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Thank you Eowyn, that’s really helpful. Glad you enjoyed them, even if there wasn’t quite enough mint. I’ve just updated the post now with thanks to you and have created a printable recipe card. I can’t remember how many cookies the recipe made. How many (roughly) did you manage to make?
I find there are rarely comments that from people who have actually tried the recipe so thought I would comment. Made a double batch, turned out great. used regular whole wheat flour, semi-sweet chocolate chips and organic eggs. Agree with an earlier post that more leaves of mint would enhance the mint flavour. Also, the friends I bake for prefer a bit of a larger cookie, so Tablespoon size drops onto pan would be perfect.
Thanks for the recipe, will use again….perhaps during holiday season for the mint chocolate lovers!
Thanks very much Michelle, feedback is always appreciated. I think I might be with you on the larger size of cookie. There’s been a lot of interest in these recently, so I’m waiting with impatience for my mint to grow and come the summer I shall try them again – with more mint leaves in!