Chocolate Mint Cookies

March 24, 2010

I am a sucker for anything mint. Especially anything that combines mint and chocolate. Something about the refreshing flavor of the mint makes me feel like a dessert is light even though I know that in reality there is nothing light about it. While pesach shopping with my son today at Pomegranate (that place is amazing!), I spied a box of mint lentils among the candy selection. Although we had decided not to buy much candy this year (you should see the list of the things I am planning to make to compensate) I couldn’t resist throwing them into my cart. Earlier in the day Laura from Pragmatic Attic had reminded me of the chocolatey goodness of Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet Decadence Cookies and suggested some minor modifications to make them Kosher for Passover. Seeing the mint lentils in the store I knew these cookies would be the perfect home for them.

Not even hours after getting home I had to make a test batch and I was right. The rich chocolate flavor of the cookies was the perfect foil for the mint. While I still love the original version which has a combination of nuts and chocolate chips, the mint cookies are something different. Nuts and chocolate are expected on Passover. The mint brings a bit of the unexpected and is a nice change. I think these may be showing up at the seder sometime right before Elijah.

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Ingredients & Quantities

1/4 cup potato starch 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (optional) 1/8 teaspoon salt 8 ounces chocolate chips or bittersweet or semisweet chocolate 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 generous cup mint lentils

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cooking Instructions

Combine the potato starch, baking powder and salt and set aside. Place a pan of water on the stove and bring to a simmer. Place the chocolate and oil in a heat proof bowl and place over the simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted. Remove from the pan and set aside.

In another heat proof bowl combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Whisk them over the simmering water until warm to the touch. Stir in the melted chocolate. Add the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Stir in the mint lentils.

Drop tablespoon sized portions of the batter onto parchment lined baking sheets or chill the dough and then roll it into small balls. Bake for 12-14 minutes.

 

Recipe Times

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Total

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Recipe Yield

Approximately three dozen small cookies

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23 Comments

  1. Yummy. I cannot believe how many delicious Passover desserts you have, which, given that we can’t get anything pre-made here, is a huge help. I do wish we had Pomegranate though. That place is amazing!

  2. Oh, wow! This is a great idea!! I love what you did with the recipe. I like the way that potato starch and oil (instead of flour and butter) work in this recipe so much that I make this substitution all year round (and so does my sister now that I told her about it). Now I have to tell my sister about your mint variation . . .
    There is so much that you can do with this recipe. Coffee, cinnamon . . . you can switch up the flavor in so many ways.

    Have a Happy Passover!

      • @Shoshana, Shoshana, I realized that I forgot to tell you something important about what I do with this recipe!! Instead of just using potato starch, I use half potato starch and half cocoa, especially if I am using chocolate chips and not a really good bittersweet chocolate. So, I use 2 Tbl. potato starch and 2 Tbl. cocoa powder. Also, if all I have is the chips, which have a lower cocoa content, in addition to using cocoa, I use 10 ounces of chips (the whole bag, baby!).
        Also, in regards to yield, I also would say that the amount should be 3 dozen. If you are making larger cookies, the yeild is 18, and the bake time needs to be slightly longer. I bake 12 minutes for the smaller cookies (3 dozen) and the bigger cookies need the full 14 minutes. When Maida Heatter printed a revised version of the recipe in an updated edition of her first cookbook (the original source of the recipe, and MY personal baking hero–although I love Alice, too), Maida said the yield should be 18 cookies, and she gave a bake time of 12 to 14 minutes.

  3. Wow, that store looks amazing! I had to do my shopping nearly a month ago or else Seattle runs out of kosher for Pesach food. It’s currently sitting in a sealed box in my garage… Thanks for another amazing recipe, I’m already planning on making merengues and your almond thumbprint cookies, might have to add this to the list. I’m really nervous about having Jamie keep Pesach. Last year he wasn’t still entirely on solids so it wasn’t as big a deal…

    • @Sharon, I’m impressed that you were organized enough to shop ahead! Good luck with Jamie! We are hoping that Ari is satisfied with the pesach food as well. I bought him some adorable chocolate frogs just to sweeten the deal.

  4. How many cookies does this recipe make? Actually, I’m wondering if it would be possible to give yield amounts for all your recipes; it would really help with planning. (I realize that sometimes you do, but none of the Pesach ones has had, and it would just help to have at least a rough idea.)

    • @Queenscook, This recipe should make about 3 dozen small cookies. The reason I usually don’t give yields is that people tend to make cookies and other desserts different sized and then complain if they get less than I said the would. Sorry if that makes it difficult for planning, if there are specific recipes you are interested in let me know and I will give you a ballpark number.

  5. Thanks for the quick reply. I understand your s’vara, but most recipe books and magazines give rough guidelines anyway. Maybe you could just include a ballpark figure, and phrase it as you just did, i.e., “3 dozen small cookies.” Or maybe give a physical measurement, like “roll into 3 dozen 1/2-inch balls.” Then, if people wanted to make larger ones, they would know they’d get fewer cookies. It’s just a suggestion. It is your blog and your decision, but I really feel it would make it more “user-friendly.” I myself might send a question (as I did), but someone else might just skip the recipe entirely because of the lack of this info.

  6. @Queenscook, You are right, I do need to be better about that. I have added the yield to this recipe and will try to go back and add it to my previous recipes when I have a chance.

    • Thanks. I plan to try this recipe for yomtov; I love the chocolate-mint combo. And what’s better . . . my husband doesn’t. More for me !!

      Chag samayach to all.

  7. Decided to check your blog for new Passover dessert postings while considering what to bake tonight… knew these would be a winner since I am also a huge fan of Alice Medrich (I took her Bittersweet class and have an inscribed book as well) and I love mint. Alas, out here in CA, didn’t have an easy supply of the mint candies, so substituted chocolate chips, dried apricots and toasted pecans. They came out perfectly! Husband agrees so I won’t get to eat them all myself…maybe I’ll share at seder if my guests are well-behaved 😉

  8. @ChocolateLover@CBD, Apricots and pecans sound like a delicious combination. I am starting to wish that Pesach was longer so I would have time to make all these different variations.
    Alice Medrich is one of my heros (I miss the cocolat store where we used truffles) so I imagine the class was great. I hope you have a wonderful pesach.

  9. I just made these plain (didn’t have any goodies to add in them) and they are delicious! Not just delicious-in-relation-to-Passover-cake, but actually delicious. Amazing!! Thank you! 🙂

  10. I made these with crushed up seder mints because I didn’t have mint lentils, and they were fabulous. Everyone asked for the recipe – thanks so much for sharing! I will definitely put mint lentils on the passover shopping list next year to make these again.

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