There are a lot of good chocolate mint cookie recipes out there, but for some reason I've always liked this one. It's originally from Southern Living and appeared in one of their cook-off books credited to Karen Hildreth of Sarasota, Florida. They are perfect for when you are in a minty mood or perhaps doing some St. Patrick's Day baking.
Like Girl Scout Thin Mints, Grasshopper Brownie Cookies have a good balance of chocolate and mint. There's no mint extract in the dough. Instead, the mint flavor comes from the chips, which in this case are Andes Baking Chips. If you can't find them, use a combination of dark chocolate chips and chopped Andes mints. Update: I usually use chopped up Andes Mints now. The baking chips aren't always available.
Grasshopper Brownie Cookie Tips
- For best results, weigh out 10 oz/280 grams of flour. If you don't have scale and are measuring by volume, be sure to fluff the flour up and aerate it before measuring.
- Also, measure the cocoa carefully. I always make these with natural cocoa powder. Dutch process should work, but the acidity in the natural cocoa reacts with the baking soda, so I'm not sure you'll get the same rise with Dutch.
- The old version of this recipe called for sliced almonds. I never loved the mint/nut combo so I use dark chocolate chunks.
Dark Chocolate Grasshopper Brownie Cookies
The recipe in the printable card is the original and calls for natural cocoa powder. If you happen to have some Dutch process cocoa powder or dark cocoa powder, here's a second version that's also very good. It looks like a half version of the recipe in the card, but the ratios are different and the cookies are darker. Pick your recipe based on what kind of cocoa powder you have.
Dark Chocolate Grasshopper Brownie Cookies
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (150 grams)
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder (40 grams)
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (125 grams)
½ cup packed brown sugar (100 grams)
¼ cup plus tablespoons granulated sugar (75 grams)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
4 oz Andes Mints, chopped (use more or less to taste)
½ cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Add cocoa to dry mixture and stir until thoroughly blended.
In mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with both sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla. By hand or using low speed of mixer, stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the mints and dark chocolate.
Drop mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet then transfer to rack to finish cooling.
Makes about 16 cookies
Recipe
Chocolate Grasshopper Brownie Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour (280 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder (40 grams)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (228 grams)
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar (150 grams)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 10 oz bag Andes mint chocolate pieces
- ½ cup dark chocolate chip or chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Add cocoa to dry mixture.
- In mixing bowl, cream the butter with both sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla. By hand or using low speed of mixer, stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the mint and chocolate.
- Drop mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet then transfer to rack to finish cooling.
Ginny says
I've been sampling several different recipes from your site and don't have time to comment as often as I'd like but for these I will make time. They are superb. Even my husband, who is rather indifferent to sweets (or really anything that hasn't been immersed in vinegar--it's an eastern NC thing), loved them. I made them the first time with slivered almonds and the second time with sliced and I think I'd have to give the edge to the slivers. They're great either way, though.
Reneé says
I just spotted some new M&M's today at the store - they have an Indiana Jones "theme" and are called Mint Crisp. I grabbed them and when I got home was trying to figure out what to do with them. I was tossing up cookies and brownies and nothing sounded right, and then I thought of a chocolate based cookie, and then I came here! What a perfect recipe to try them in! I left out the almond pieces and used the mint crisp M&M's and some semi-sweet chocolate chunks. First batch is in the oven now...
The mint crisp M&M's on their own taste like those fabulous after-dinner mints - the chocolate, but not too chocolate ones you get at the nicer restaurants sometimes. I LOVE them. I had to get them into cookies so I didn't eat the entire bag!
Anna says
Hi Therese,
I have some of those candy cane chips too. And yes, I'm sure they'd work here. The cookies would taste different and might be crunchy due to the chips, but they'd still be good.
Therese says
Hey Anna!
Could I sub the regular Andes Mints with Candy Cane flavored Andes Mints?? The candy companies have been busy this year. Have you seen the Hot Cocoa flavored Hershey Kisses? There is an intruiging recipe on the back of that package.
Anna says
Happy Holidays to you too, Rebecca!
Naomi, I was concerned that the sliced almonds would taste odd with the mint and almost left them out. I ended up putting them in and am glad I did. They don't add much taste, but the do give the cookies a bit of crunch. So yes, I recommend keeping them in.
Stacy, I used Andes mint pieces which are very tiny and don't have to be broken up. You can uses the same amount of Andes mints (10 oz). If you do this, then definitely chop them up.
Stacy says
Do you break up the Andes mints? Or leave them whole? My sister will love this recipe.
Thanks
naomi eve says
These sound interesting. What are Andes mints? And how does the mint flavour work with almonds?
rebecca says
oh, these sound so good. i saw the title in my feed reader and had to click immediately.
happy holidays to you and your family, anna!