Mint Brownie Cookies

Mint Chocolate Brownies: These delicious cookies have a brownie mix base for a true brownie taste. They’re rich and fudgy, topped with peppermint frosting and chocolate mint ganache, or keep them simple without the extras.

Not sure about making frosting and ganache for cookies? Try just the base cookie recipe — it’s completely delicious on its own!

Mint Brownie Cookies

While working on these Mint Brownies, I had the idea to turn the recipe of brownies into a cookie and I couldn’t be more excited with the results. A thick, fudgy, chocolatey, chewy cookie base that totally tastes like a brownie (I mean, we are using a brownie mix in it, so why wouldn’t it?), a cool minty frosting, and a smooth chocolate ganache topping. These cookies are totally delicious!

Don’t let the list of components to this recipe overwhelm you. The base cookie (without the frosting and ganache topping) is completely tasty on its own. If you’re looking for a rich (and easy) chocolate cookie recipe with flecks of Andes® mint chocolate throughout, just stick with the base cookie recipe!

Ingredients

• Brownie mix: I’ve made these cookies with different brownie mixes, and the Betty Crocker® Delights Brownie Mix (Supreme Chocolate Chunk) was the favorite. Make sure the mix you use is the right size (18 ounces or 510 grams) so the cookies turn out well.
• Mint chocolate chips: This recipe has been tested with mint fudge baking chips and Andes ®Creme De Menthe baking chips. Both work great! You can also use regular Andes Creme de Menthe Thins Candy.
• Butter: I recommend unsalted butter since brownie mix and pudding mix both have salt in them– and you don’t want salty cookies. Room temperature or slightly softened butter is best for these cookies.
• Cream cheese: For the best flavor and thickness, I recommend full-fat brick-style cream cheese.
• Large egg
• Vanilla extract: Vanilla adds a delicious flavor to the cookies. 
• Chocolate pudding mix: Make sure to get regular instant chocolate pudding mix and filling — not sugar-free and not cook-and-serve pudding.
• Chocolate chips: We like milk chocolate best, but semi-sweet or dark will work just as well. 

Mint Frosting Notes

• Food coloring is fun to make these Mint Brownie Cookies look minty or for the dessert to be festive looking (for St. Patrick’s Day), but it’s optional. Without the food dye, the frosting will be white but still taste the same. I don’t use any special food coloring, just generic food dye drops from the grocery store.
• Make sure to use peppermint extract, not mint. Mint extract (which is more wintergreen flavor) makes the frosting taste like toothpaste; the peppermint is much milder. Depending on how strong of a mint flavor you’d like, increase or decrease the amount to personal preference. The actual strength of the peppermint extract will also depend on the brand (some are more potent than others). I use 3/4 teaspoon of McCormick® peppermint extract, which we find to be the perfect amount. If you are concerned about the overall mint flavor in this cookie, you could even leave out this extract. There is plenty of mint flavor just from the mint chips!
• We found the amount of frosting is perfect for the yield of cookies, but there isn’t a whole lot of frosting on each cookie. If you want a very generously frosted cookie, you may want to double the frosting recipe.

Mint Brownie Cookie Ganache

The ganache is a simple three-ingredient recipe — mint baking chips, chocolate chips, and heavy cream. I wouldn’t recommend any substitutes for the heavy cream. Milk will thin the ganache too much and butter makes it a bit grainy.

While these cookies can be dipped in the ganache, the process is a bit more involved and messy. I found much neater results by transferring the ganache to a plastic bag, snipping off the tip, and then piping that rich, sweet goodness over the cookies. If you don’t want to drizzle or dip, you could try and spoon the ganache on top and smooth it with the back of the spoon.

Chocolate Mint Cookie Tips

• Use an electric mixer. Hand or stand will work! This is an extremely thick dough, and it will be hard to achieve the best results without an electric mixer.
• Roll wide, flat discs. These cookies don’t spread much, so it’s important to roll the dough balls flatter so you aren’t left with a thick ball of baked dough.
• Line the sheet pan. These cookies turn out best when baked on a silicone liner. Without a lined tray, the bottoms brown and crisp up too quickly.

More delicious cookie recipes

• Snickerdoodles soft and chewy
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe!
• Gingersnap Cookies with an amazing spice blend
• Animal Circus Cookies with cream cheese frosting
• Avalanche Cookies no baking required