Chocolate mint biscotti with mint chips and a mint icing. Crispy and chewy, These chocolate mint cookies are perfect for the holidays.
Is it too early to start holiday baking? I hope not because these chocolate mint biscotti were the kickoff to this years holiday baking. I baked them for the first time during my mom and I’s hallmark movie marathon and they went perfectly with our hot cocoa and I’ve made them a million times since. Biscotti gets a bad rap for being hard and brittle, but the ratio of butter to sugar in these cookies make them crisp on the outside with just the right amount of softness on the inside.
Chocolate Mint Cookie Ingredients:
- Flour: I tested this recipe with King Arthur All-Purpose Flour using the spoon and level method.
- Cocoa Powder: Not all cocoa powders are created equally. In a pinch you can swap regular cocoa powder for dutch processed, but I do not recommend it. I’ll go into the baking science behind this below.
- Baking Soda: This recipe uses baking soda to give the cookies a nice crunch.
- Salt: Any sweet recipe needs salt for balance.
- Softened Butter: This recipe was tested with American butter. It has not been tested with European butter.
- Granulated Sugar: This recipe only uses granulated sugar since we want a crisp, not chewy, cookie.
- Eggs: Eggs are a big part of biscotti. Avoid curdling the dough by using room temperature eggs.
- Vanilla Extract:
- Mint Extract: I’ve tested this recipe with peppermint extract.
- Chocolate Chips:
- Mint Baking Chips: I love mint baking chips. I recommend Guittard baking chips.
Regular Cocoa vs. Dutch Processed Cocoa:
Are dutch and regular cocoa are interchangeable? Their isn’t a short answer to this; it all depends on your use for it. And to unveil the cocoa secrets, we must revisit basic chemistry. Regular (unsweetened) cocoa is ever so slightly acidic. It also happens be to lighter in color and slightly milder. Dutch processed cocoa has been alkalized, so it is no normal acidic rather neutral. Baking soda is a base (the opposite of acid) and baking powder is a combination of both acids and bases.
When acids and bases combine, they neutralize each other, creating a reaction. Regular cocoa powder + baking soda = a reaction 🙂 Dutch processed cocoa + baking soda ≠ a strong reaction. When the main leavener is baking powder, the two tend to be more interchangeable. However when the main leavener is baking soda, dutch processed cocoa is not a recommended swap.
This being said, this recipe does not rely highly on rise so if you are in a pinch, and only in a pinch, you may use dutch processed cocoa (but no negative reviews if they aren’t superb). Or you could make these cranberry biscotti.
How to Slice Chocolate Mint Biscotti:
It’s the special baking method that gives biscotti their signature crunch. Judging bake on biscotti is one of the hardest cookie baking technique. In my very non-technical way, I recommend lifting the bottom of the log up with a spatula and checking underneath to see if it is crisp.
If crisp, remove it from the oven and let cool for 4 minutes. Any shorter, the dough will be not set enough to get a clean slice. Any longer, and the dough will be too crumbly. Slice on a diagonal using a serrated or bread knife. If you do not have one, use the sharpest chef’s knife you have. Reposition on the baking sheet and bake again for only for roughly 8 minutes until completely crisp. All done, perfectly baked chocolate mint biscotti!
Tips on making the perfect chocolate mint cookies:
Kitchen scales add accuracy to your baking. Depending on how much you pack ingredients into your measuring cups, the final amount added can differ. Grams do not have this issue, therefore making them a better alternative (especially with flour).
The key is to go low and slow (remember, the tortoise wins not the hare). Microwave for 10 seconds at a time, stirring thoroughly between, to avoid the bottom bits burning. If you find this happening, adding a bit of coconut oil can help smooth the mixture.
Chocolate Mint Biscotti
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Chocolate mint biscotti with mint chips and a mint icing. Crispy and chocolatey, they are perfect for the holidays or any time of the year.
Ingredients
- A scant 2 cups flour/ 225 grams
- 1/3 cup regular (unsweetened) cocoa powder/ 35 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons softened butter/ 80 grams
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar/ 150 grams
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon mint extract
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips/ 50 grams
- 1/2 plus 1/3 cup mint baking chips/ 100 grams
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. Whisk until smooth and no clumps of cocoa remain.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or bowl with a hand mixer, beat the softened butter and sugar together at a medium speed until fluffy and an even consistency is evident throughout the entire mixture. Roughly 3-4 minutes.
- Add eggs in one at a time, waiting until each egg is fully emulsified to add the second, to avoid breaking the mixture. Then add vanilla.
- Turn the mixer to lowest speed and add the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix on low just until no dry spots remain.
- Fold in 1/2 cup mint chips and all the chocolate chips until they are evenly dispersed throughout the dough.
- Dump dough onto prepared baking sheet and divide into two even pieces. Shape the dough into two logs that are no more than 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch tall.
- Bake logs for 30 minutes until a slight crust forms on the top of the logs and a slightly crisp bottom has formed.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 4 minutes before horizontally slicing the logs with a serrated knife into 1 inch slices angles on a slight diagonal.
- Place cookies back in oven and continue baking the cookies for 8 minutes until the cookies are crisp. Let cool on a rack.
- Melt the other 1/3 cup of mint chips in the microwave in 15 second increments, stirring in between, until fully melted. Spoon melted chocolate into a sandwich bag or tip-less piping bag.
- Snip a small triangle off the bottom of the bag and pipe stripes of chocolate on all the cooled biscotti.
- Serve cold or with hot chocolate and enjoy!
Notes
*These are best kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 175 kcal
- Sugar: 13.4g
- Sodium: 196mg
- Fat: 7.6g
- Saturated Fat: 4.8g
- Carbohydrates: 30mg
- Fiber: 1.2g
- Protein: 3.1g
- Cholesterol: 30mg
Keywords: biscotti, cookies, mint cookie
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