Chocolate Mint Shortbread Cookies

Chocolate Mint Shortbread Cookies are easy to make slice n’ bake cookies that are perfect for gifting! These crunchy chocolate cookies have a minty chocolate coating and sprinkle of crushed candy canes.

This morning I got a text from my best friend Paige: “OMG OMG OMG you’re the bestest person in the whole world.” There was one clear reason for her delight: I sent her a much needed big box of holiday goodies to help her get through her first year law school finals. She’s a total smarty pants, so I know she’ll do great, but I thought I’d make her long nights in the library a little more bearable by shipping her some holiday goodies.

Isn’t the best part of the holidays sharing treats with your family and friends? It’s one of my favorite parts. Paige’s box was packed full of wintery treats: peppermint marshmallows, chai spice pecan brittle, and these chocolate mint shortbread cookies. The cookies are incredible, and it’s hard to eat just one – Paige says they received raving reviews in the library. Stressed out law student approved!

Paige isn’t the only one who received some of these chocolate mint shortbread cookies in the mail, though! Have you all heard about the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap? It’s been going on for the past five years now, but somehow this is the first year that I’ve participated. Every year I mean to sign up, and every year the deadline slips by before I remember to and I end up jealous when I see everyone posting the cookies they got and sharing their recipes.

Well, not this year! This year I was signed up and ready to be making cookies super early, anxious to get baking for my fellow food blogging friends. When I finally received my list of names and address of where to send cookies, I was giddy with excitement and got baking pretty quickly.

It’s so fun to be able to connect with other food bloggers in the community and actually receive food from them! All the participants sent and received a dozen cookies to three different bloggers. I received eggnog shortbread cookies from Pale Yellow, triple ginger cookies from Shana Was Here, and sugar cookies from Not Starving Yet.

All of the cookies arrived gorgeously packed and totally intact, and it made me feel less than brilliant for forgetting to put the cards in my boxes of cookies. You know, the ones saying what the cookies were. Oops. At least I remembered to toss my business card in there, so they weren’t sketchy mystery cookies from an anonymous sender. Except…I guess they kind of were a mystery. At least they were delicious mystery cookies!

These chocolate mint shortbread cookies are slice n’ bake style, which makes them so easy to prep ahead of time if you need to. Then, when you’re ready for cookies, just slice and bake! The dough is a simple chocolate shortbread with a bunch of mint chips and mini chocolate chips tossed in. Using mini chocolate chips is important – big ones will make your dough tear when you cut the cookies and it will be a whole lot of trouble. Stick with the minis here.

The cookies are then rolled into logs and chilled. They can stay in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for a few months, but you want to let them chill for at least 2 hours before slicing and baking. Once the cookies are baked and cooled, time to dip in some chocolate. I upped the mintiness by adding some mint extract to the melted chocolate, and then I dipped half of the cookie in chocolate and gave them a quick sprinkle of crushed candy canes.

The result? A crunchy chocolate cookie full of melty chocolate chips, all dipped in a silky chocolate coating. They’re pretty fabulous. Thank goodness I was sending all of these cookies away, because I would have been guilty of eating an embarrassing number of them. Enjoy!

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Chocolate Mint Shortbread Cookies

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• Author: Rachel Conners
• Prep Time: 140 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 155 minutes
• Yield: 4 dozen 1x
• Category: Dessert

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Ingredients

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For the cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• ⅔ cup powdered sugar (sifted)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups (8.5 oz) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• ½ cup Andes mint chips
• ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the chocolate coating

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ teaspoon mint extract
• 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening or oil
• Mint chips or crushed candy canes

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Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in the vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter and on low speed, mix in the flour until combined and a dough is formed. With a stiff spatula, fold in the mint chips and mini chocolate chips.
3. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a log roughly 1 foot long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap both logs of dough in parchment paper or plastic wrap. To keep the cookie dough logs round, cut a slit in two empty paper towel rolls and store the cookie dough in there so the sides don’t flatten.
4. Refrigerate the rolls until firm, about two hours, or up to three days. At this point, you can put the dough logs inside a freezer bag and freeze for up to three months – thaw in the refrigerator overnight before baking if you do this.
5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Slice the logs into slices 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick using a sharp knife. Arrange them slightly apart on the baking sheets.
6. Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes. If you press your finger lightly to the cookies, they should give just barely but not seem doughy. Don’t let these overbake – it’s hard to tell because these cookies are so dark you won’t see the edges browning.
7. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets.
8. For the chocolate coating, combine the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips and shortening or oil in a microwaveable bowl and microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring between each interval until smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract.
9. Dip one end of each cookie into the chocolate and use an off-set spatula or butter knife to scrape off the excess chocolate. Immediately sprinkle with mint chips or crushed candy canes before chocolate sets. Place the dipped cookies on waxed paper or parchment paper until set (or refrigerate to speed up the process). Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

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Notes

Recipe adapted from The Kitchn

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