These fudgy crinkles are easy to make, intense but sweet, and have almond flour for texture. The dough can be kept for three days in the refrigerator before baking. If you like the excellent flavor combination of chocolate and mint, these cookies need to be in your recipe file!
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Originally posted in 2012, this post has been updated with text and new images to serve you better. The recipe remains the same.
These are the prettiest cookies to ever come out of my oven.
Dramatically white with dark chocolate cracks running through them.
It's one of my favorite Christmas cookies I bake yearly, with pistachio butter cookies, gingerbread cookies, and chocolate peppermint cookies.
The recipe is from baker extraordinaire Nancy Silverton and is inspired by a similar girl-scout cookie that should bring nostalgic memories to many.
Had this not been a trusted baker's recipe, I would've turned the page fast after reading the ingredients. Trust me, everything in this recipe works.
I know you'll probably cringe at the sight of creme de menthe, with its unappealing emerald green color, but keep on, and you won't regret it a bit.
Why you should make them
- Outstanding flavor: it has the perfect balance between dark chocolate and mint. If you love this combination, you have to try them!
- Amazing texture: adding almond flour lends texture, but you don't feel or taste it.
- Keep well: the chocolate cookie dough and the baked cookie keep well wrapped or in an airtight container for several days. So you can make them ahead.
Ingredients
- Chocolate: use your favorite dark semisweet chocolate for this recipe. I love using 60% to 70% dark or semi-sweet chocolates like Ghirardelli Chocolate Dark Bar 60%, Green & Black's dark chocolate 70%, and Ghirardelli 72% intense dark chocolate. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the less sweet the chocolate is.
- Mint extract: I like peppermint, but there are other types of mint like spearmint. I use Mc Cormick pure peppermint extract or Simply Organic peppermint flavor.
- Creme de menthe: there are two types, with and without alcohol. Use mint liqueur also available at liquor stores and some supermarkets. Or creme de menthe syrup without the alcohol content, which makes sweeter cookies.
- Almond flour: you can buy it or make your own by finely grinding whole almonds.
- Unsalted butter.
- Eggs: fresh, large.
- All-purpose flour.
- Sugar: regular, white granulated sugar is needed for the cookie dough and for coating the cookie balls.
- Powdered sugar: there is no alternative or substitution for it. Also called confectioners' sugar or icing sugar, you can easily buy it online. Domino powdered sugar is a very popular one.
See the recipe card at the end of this post for quantities.
It's a simple process, and the dough needs to be refrigerated for several hours until firm enough to make truffles that can be rolled in sugar.
Beat eggs and sugar for several minutes until mousse-like (called ribbon stage or pate a bombe in French).
Add melted chocolate with mint syrup and extract. Mix with a whisk.
Add dry ingredients (flour and ground almonds) and whisk until combined.
The final batter is quite fluid with texture from the almonds. It needs to be refrigerated for several hours, well covered.
Vintage Kitchen tip: the dough can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept in the fridge. It takes several hours to firm up, so I recommend making it the day before.
Coating steps
This is the fun part with crackle cookies.
It's a hands-on affair. The dough is shaped into truffle-like rounds and then coated with regular and powdered sugar.
Two coatings: the first prevents the second from being absorbed by the dough during baking and creates an extra layer of sweetness.
The crinkles or crackles might be different every time you bake these cookies.
Sometimes they remain fiercely white; other times, the white part is less bright, less contrasting.
Place powdered sugar cookie balls with space between them so they can grow.
When you remove them, they should be slightly soft in the center to ensure fudgy cookies.
Kitchen notes
- Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the right temperatures, equipment needed, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier!
- Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. Use a thermometer inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that the temperature is right. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
- Make ahead: the cookie dough is more of a thick batter and needs hours of refrigeration to firm up enough to make truffles. This will take several hours, so I make it the day before or up to three days ahead.
- Flavor variation: change the liqueur, and you change the flavor of the cookies. Use rum, orange liqueur, amaretto (almond), Frangelico (hazelnut), or Kahlua (coffee)
Related recipes you might like:
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Chocolate Mint Crinkle Cookies
These crinkles are easy to make, intense but sweet, and have almond flour for texture. The dough can be kept for three days in the refrigerator before baking. If you like the excellent flavor combination of chocolate and mint, these cookies will blow your recipe file!
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 40 cookies
Ingredients
- 12 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted (see Notes below for how-to)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 tablespoons crème de menthe (mint liqueur or syrup, see Notes below)
- ¼ teaspoon mint extract
- 1 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose or cake flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
For coating:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Melt chocolate pieces with butter and mix until smooth. See the Notes below for ways to do this. Stovetop: turn off the heat and let the mixture stand over warm water until ready to use. Microwave: melt the chocolate right before you start beating eggs and sugar. If the chocolate is not fluid when you need to add it, microwave it 15 seconds more before adding.
- Pour crème de menthe in a small bowl and add the mint extract. Reserve.
- Stir almond meal, flour, and baking powder in a medium bowl.
- Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until the mixture is thick, mousse-like, pale, and forms ribbons when the beater is lifted, from 3-5 minutes.
- Mix the mint mix into the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
- Whisk the chocolate into the egg mixture until combined.
- Whisk in the flour mixture and combine well. The batter will be somewhat runny.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill until firm enough to make truffles, at least 4 hours. I make it a day ahead.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC.
- Scoop portions of dough, roll them into balls with your hands and place them on a greased baking sheet. Your hands will get messy. Use a cookie scoop, so the cookies are the same size.
- Chill until firm, about 15 minutes.
- To coat cookies, place the granulated sugar in a small bowl and the powdered sugar in another bowl.
- Remove cookies from the refrigerator and roll one at a time in the bowl of granulated sugar to lightly coat. Then repeat with the remaining cookie balls, coating them heavily with powdered sugar. They must be completely white.
- Place on parchment paper or Silpat-lined cookie sheets.
- Bake for about 15 minutes until they crackle, the top is dry, but the center is still slightly soft.
- Allow them to cool completely on wire racks.
- Store leftovers in tin or cookie jars, being careful how you stack them so you don't lose the powdered sugar coating.
Notes
- Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the right temperatures, equipment needed, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier!
- Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. Use a thermometer inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that the temperature is right. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
- Cookie scoop: use them to have evenly-sized cookies. I use this small stainless steel cookie scoop (1.57inch/ 4cm) for regular-sized cookies. If baking larger cookies, adjust the baking time.
- Chocolate: use your favorite dark semisweet chocolate for this recipe. I love using 60% to 70% dark or semi-sweet chocolates like Ghirardelli Chocolate Dark Bar 60%, Green & Black's dark chocolate 70%, and Ghirardelli 72% intense dark chocolate. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the less sweet the chocolate is.
- Mint extract: I like peppermint, but there are other types of mint like spearmint. I use Mc Cormick pure peppermint extract or Simply Organic peppermint flavor.
- Creme de menthe: there are two types, with and without alcohol. Use mint liqueur also available at liquor stores and some supermarkets. Or creme de menthe syrup without the alcohol content, which makes sweeter cookies but is what you need if kids will be eating them.
- Make ahead: the cookie dough is more of a thick batter and needs hours of refrigeration to firm up enough to make truffles. This will take several hours, so I make it the day before or up to three days ahead.
- Flavor variation: change the liqueur, and you change the flavor of the cookies. Use rum, orange liqueur, amaretto (almond), Frangelico (hazelnut), or Kahlua (coffee)
- Melting chocolate: always start with chopped chocolate in a microwavable or glass bowl. You can use the microwave (short 10-15 second spurts stirring well between each one until it's fully melted) or a double boiler with the bowl containing the chopped chocolate not touching the water. In both cases, make sure it doesn't scorch. There are two ways:
Microwave: melt the ingredients on high for 10 seconds, take out and mix well. Repeat until all the chocolate is melted. Be careful you don't scorch it. That's why it's important to mix it well between each heating.
Stovetop: put the bowl with chocolate and butter over a smaller pan with a few inches of water. Over medium heat, let the chocolate and butter melt, stirring occasionally. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water and that no water gets into the bowl. If the water boils too much before the chocolate is melted, turn the heat off and let the hot vapor melt the remaining chocolate.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/40
- Calories: 109
- Sugar: 11.2 g
- Sodium: 5.9 mg
- Fat: 5.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 13.7 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 1.9 g
- Cholesterol: 17 mg
Keywords: chocolate mint cookies
Adapted from Desserts, by Nancy Silverton
Pat Dailey says
Question about the infusion of mint leaves and creme de menthe: is the mint strained out or added to the dough? Thank you.
Paula Montenegro says
Yes Pat, you have to strain it! I added it to the recipe. Thanks for the heads-up!
Baker Street says
Chocolate and mint is such a fantastic! Love the crinkle effect. Look absolutely gorgeous. 🙂