Chocolate Mint Swirl Cookies

Name: Chocolate Mint Swirl Cookies
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 24
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon green food coloring gel (mint); 1 pinch salt (mint); 1 cup all-purpose flour (mint); 1 1/2 teaspoons mint extract (mint); 1 large egg (mint); 1/3 cup sugar (mint); 1/3 cup unsalted butter (mint); 1 pinch salt (choc); 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (choc); 1/3 cup cocoa powder (choc); 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (choc); 1 large egg (choc); 1/2 cup sugar (choc); 1/2 cup unsalted butter (choc)

2 Ratings

3 Comments

Prep 1 hr 30 min
Total 2 hr 0 min
Servings 24

Chocolate and mint are made for each other. These cookies are fun to make and have a delicious chocolate-mint flavor. MORE+ LESS-

By Macheesmo

Updated November 28, 2014

Ingredients

tablespoon green food coloring gel (mint)

pinch salt (mint)

cup all-purpose flour (mint)

1 1/2

teaspoons mint extract (mint)

large egg (mint)

1/3

cup sugar (mint)

1/3

cup unsalted butter (mint)

pinch salt (choc)

3/4

cup all-purpose flour (choc)

1/3

cup cocoa powder (choc)

1/2

teaspoon vanilla extract (choc)

large egg (choc)

1/2

cup sugar (choc)

1/2

cup unsalted butter (choc)

Steps

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1

Mix your mint and chocolate dough separately. To prepare chocolate dough, cream butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Mix on medium until butter/sugar mixture is light and fluffy.
2

Add egg, vanilla extract, and salt. Then add cocoa powder and flour and mix until combined. Try not to overmix the dough.
3

Once dough is mixed, turn chocolate dough out onto wax paper and cover with another sheet of wax paper. Roll into a rough rectangle, 12'' by 16'' in size. It doesn't have to be perfect. Keep the wax paper on the dough and stick it in the freezer while you make the mint dough.
4

For mint dough (it doesn't actually matter what order you make them in - be sure to wash your bowl though in between), cream butter and sugar together just like chocolate dough. Once light and fluffy, add egg, mint extract, salt, and green food coloring gel.
5

Mix in flour slowly until combined. Turn dough out onto wax paper, cover with another piece of wax paper, and roll mint dough to roughly same size as chocolate dough.
6

Remove the first slab of dough from the freezer. Peel off top layer of each dough slab. Spritz one slab with a bit of water and press the two dough slabs together. You should still have wax paper on the top and bottom of the combined dough. Press together to seal the dough.
7

Stick combined dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill.
8

Take dough out of freezer and trim off edges to make a tight rectangle. The rectangle shouldn't have any large areas with just chocolate dough or just mint dough.
9

Once combined dough is trimmed, take the wax paper off and slowly roll up the dough starting on a long end. The chocolate dough should be on the outside or on the bottom as you start to roll. The chocolate dough might crack a bit which is fine. You can pinch it together as you go. It's also fine to have a few cracks in the chocolate dough. Mine did and they were still good.
10

Once your dough is rolled into a log, press it together tightly and wrap it in plastic wrap. Put it back in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill down.
11

When ready to bake the cookies, take roll out of plastic wrap and use a sharp, preferably serrated knife to cleanly slice 1/4 inch cookies.
12

Bake cookies either on a silicon mat or parchment paper for 8-10 minutes in a 350°F oven. Let cool before serving.

Nutrition Information

No nutrition information available for this recipe

More About This Recipe

It's cookie week here on Tablespoon and if there's one rule I always try to remember when baking cookies, it's that the most efficient way to make a cookie may not be the BEST way to make a cookie.

Because at the end of the day, cookies should be fun! They should make people smile when they see them and when they eat them. Anytime you can accomplish that, it's a good cookie in my book.

I love this Chocolate Mint Swirl Cookie recipe so much because it's fun, but not necessarily efficient. You could definitely just add some mint extract to chocolate cookie dough and end up with basically the same flavor.

But somehow that cookie just wouldn't be as FUN.

This is a really simple cookie dough to make. The only tricky part is rolling it up!

It's obviously important to mix your mint dough and chocolate dough in separate batches, washing the bowl well in-between.

Once your two doughs are made, roll them out and chill them to make them easier to work with. Nothing beats wax paper for this purpose.

Roll each piece of dough in-between two pieces of wax paper until it forms a rough 12x16 inch rectangle.

Stick the dough in the freezer for 15 minutes after it's rolled out so it stiffens up a bit. That will make it a lot easier to use. It’s easiest to lay the sheets of dough on a baking sheet in the freezer.

After a quick chill, remove one side from each dough sheet and spritz one side with water. Press the two doughs together!

Once they are together, stick them back in the freezer for a few minutes to harden again.

Next, you need to trim the dough down. This step maybe isn't 100% necessary but it'll make for a more even finished product. Just slice around the edges of the dough so there are no areas with just mint or chocolate dough.

Next, using your hands, slowly roll the dough into a tight roll, starting on the widest side. This is tricky work but don't stress out about it. The chocolate dough (which should be on the bottom when you're rolling) might crack a bit, but don't worry. The cookies will still come out looking great.

Roll this cylinder of dough in plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before trying to slice it. You could keep it there for days without a problem though. If you freeze the dough solid, thaw it in the fridge before trying to cut it.

When slicing the dough, use a sharp, serrated knife. Make clean cuts through the dough and slice off about 1/4 inch cookies.

Bake these guys on parchment paper or on a silicone mat for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. Let them cool for a few minutes before snacking on them!

So yes. There's a ton of ways you could make these cookies easier, but I really think the final product is pretty cool looking. Once you get the hang of making swirl cookies you can do any number of variations!

Nick encourages everyone to stare directly into the swirl cookies. Yes. Good. Now you feel an uncontrollable urge to check out his blog Macheesmo and his Tablespoon profile.