Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, and as many of you know, his feast day is this upcoming weekend, on March 17th. Although I went to an Episcopalian school as a young girl, I knew very little about Saint Patrick until I started to write this blog post.
I learned a few details worth sharing. Saint Patrick was born in the first century and lived most of his childhood in captivity. There, under what were imaginably trying circumstances, he developed a relationship with God. At the age of 20, he finally escaped and returned to his family in Britain. But like most good stories, Saint Patrick’s past didn’t melt away. After his ordination many years later, he returned to the land of his captivity. But this time as a free-man and a bearer of the Christian gospel.
And so it doesn’t entirely surprise me that people throughout the centuries have latched on to this man and his story. Because within the legend of Saint Patrick there is the golden thread of redemption, and we humans love stories where bad situations are worked for good.
But nowadays, most of us are more familiar with what Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations encourage: a heavy round of drinking. And while I’d love to sit back with a cold glass and a few friends, my little Lucy is very pleased that I’m abstaining from all alcohol until she is safely outside of my womb. But thankfully, there are many other ways to celebrate Saint Patrick’s day (and to be perfectly honest, I’d rather eat a cookie and learn about Saint Patrick than drink a glass of beer!)
McCormick® generously sent me a package of their Pure Peppermint Extract and Green Food Coloring to experiment with in the kitchen this March. I opened the bottle of peppermint extract right away, and the smell transported me. The minty and cool aroma made me want to dive into my mixing bowls. In my mind, mint pairs perfectly with one quintessential dessert staple. I knew at first whiff I had to include chocolate in my recipe.
These Mint Chocolate Mash-Up cookies are a melding of two classic flavors…with a little luck of the Irish thrown in. McCormick® created a great chart that offers tips on tinting your baked treats the perfect shade of green (believe me, this is a cake decorator’s best friend!) Colorful and flavorful, these soft and chewy cookies delight both the eyes and the senses. Every good chef and baker knows that there’s much more involved in cooking than just taste! Thankfully, these cookies look, smell, taste, and even feel delicious!
When I have little ones running underfoot, I imagine us working together on a batch of these cookies. While you probably don’t want your kids mixing the dough, they can certainly help you “mash-up” the chocolate and mint balls into one giant piece of cookie goodness. My niece and nephews couldn’t stop eating them (and us adults had a hard time stopping at two!) Add a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, and you have a great dessert to serve on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Mint Chocolate Mash-Up Cookies
Chocolate Dough
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mint Dough
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Peppermint Extract
50 drops (or 1 teaspoon) McCormick® Green Food Color
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1. To make Chocolate Dough: beat together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add in egg and beat until well combined. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold these dry ingredients into your butter-sugar mixture. Stir until dough comes together. Move to a storage container or plastic bag and allow dough to chill for 1-2 hours.
2. To make Mint Dough: beat together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add in egg, Pure Peppermint Extract, and Green Food Color. Beat until green and well-combined. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold these dry ingredients into your butter-sugar mixture. Stir until dough comes together. Move to a storage container or plastic bag and allow dough to chill for 1-2 hours (basically the same as the chocolate dough…just more color and flavor!)
3. After dough is thoroughly chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. To “mash-up” cookies: take about 1-2 tablespoons of chocolate dough and form into a ball. Repeat process with mint dough. Mash the two balls together and roll into one large ball of cookie dough. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies look just slightly underdone. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on cookie sheet before removing to a wire rack.
I love everything about these cookies… they look so wonderfully chewy. Though, I must admit, I’d much rather be sipping on a beer (on a nice warm day, of course) than have cookies. But if I could choose, I’d like to have both. Is that possible?
Thank you for reminding me about St Patric’s day! I totally forgot, need to find an Irish bar in San Francisco 🙂 Your cookies sound super delicious, I love mint in cookies 🙂
These look great. Any excuse to break out my extracts is cool with me. Sometimes when I’m sad I’ll go into my pantry and sniff all my extracts. The lemon and the mint always make me really happy. Hey, it’s better than drugs.
these are so cool, monet! i actually am afraid of most green foods, but this is the perfect shade.
I love the colour of these cookies and the chocolate, mint combination is definitely heavenly!
The color is so vibrant! I loved using the food coloring McCormick sent me…such a lovely shade of green.
What a great St. Patrick’s day treat! I think you’re right – they’d be as much fun to make as to eat!
Drool- mint and chocolate= the perfect combination. Such fun looking (and delicious looking) cookies!
Hi, Monet!
With such brilliant recipes and sparkling writing, I have no doubt that you will get that book deal one day! As for babies, I have 3 munchkins at home – and it’s such a joy and blessing to have so many of them 🙂
Thank you for sharing, oh, a little anecdote about good ole’ St. Patrick! I’m sure he will approve of these heavenly cookies! LOL!
Beautiful cookies!! Perfect for St. Patrick’s day!!
I’ve never heard of mashup cookies before but they look so neat and probably are really fun to make!
These are so gorgeous! I love how delicately thin but in-your-face these are with it’s bold color and mint infusion! =)
Oh Monet what a lovely post, thank you for sharing little bit of history about St. Patrick! I am not into drinking since I had my kids, but I am sure all three of them would agree with me that we could celebrate with these lovely cookies.
Beautiful pictures and delicious recipe!
Have a wonderful week!
St. Patrick’s Day is the one holiday I don’t really get excited about. I enjoyed your history lesson. It is cute to see all of the green around in recipes. I hope you have a wonderful week.
I’d take a cookie over a beer any day. I was in a chocolate mint mood last night, too bad I didn’t see your cookies sooner. I didn’t know that about St. Patrick, so good to know. Hope you are off to a good week.
-Gina-
Mmmm I love these gorgeous mixed up cookies 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Mint and chocolate is a perfect match! These do sound like fun cookies for kids to help make.
i love all things mint!!! these look fantastic, and I love seeing all the pics of Lucille’s growth in the womb, so amazing, you’ll never forget these moments with her inside…magical!!! I loved your challah bread too, we’re bit challah eaters in this family 🙂
Ohhhh these are perfect for St. Patrick’s Day! My kids want to bring these for school and I know everyone would love this – with mint and choco, it’s my favorite too!
These would be so fun to bring to a classroom! I should make another batch to send with my niece and nephew.
Very pretty and delicious cookies! These cookies would definitely bring a smile to anyone!
My friend, you have taught me much about St. Patrick that I didn’t know. And, these cookies look like a delicious treat to celebrate his day!
Best,
Bonnie
Monet,
Your cookies are delightful, and perfect for St. Pat’s Day. I can’t wait to read your first book:) I’m sure that you’ll be doing a lot baking with your daughter. So exciting!
Those are some super fun facts about the upcoming holiday thank you for sharing them and THANK YOU for sharing these cookies! I am a mint monster. I love love love it. So these cookies were carved out just for me, and my favorite color just happens to be green. Imagine that 🙂
What a bright green colour! The perfect San Patrick day cookies! This sounds crazy but I used to celebrate St Patrick every year when I lived in Rome, but I stopped since I moved to London…
Chocolate and mint = one of my favorite combos ever. And these cookies are so gorgeous! Just perfect for St. Patrick’s Day … or really any day. =)
These cookies look perfect! Love the combination of green and dark brown color. Must be very fun to make these with my niece and my future son! Thanks for informing us about Saint Patrick!
These cookies are so cute, Monet! They look so delicious and perfect for a sober St. Patrick’s celebration, haha. Thanks for sharing! Hope you and Ryan are both doing well and feeling excited! 🙂
These cookies look so delicious and festive…mint chocolate is a match made in heaven!
I hope you have been well, Monet! And I just found out via Twitter that you’re expecting. Congratulations!!!! 😀 I am so excited for you!
I’ve missed not being able to bake or blog since the storm, but things are finally making progress!
xoxo,
Tammy<3
I love the look of these mash-up cookies, and I’ll bet the taste is out of this world! Mint and chocolate are such a good combination and fit so well with St. Patrick’s Day. Like you, I’ll take cookies and history over beer any day 🙂
Have a great rest of your week, Monet!
What fun and interesting looking cookies!
These are so fun, I love how you get two cookies in one! Makes me think of all the other delicious combinations you could make with this idea, though I love mint and chocolate together too!
Love the look of these mint chocolate cookies! They are perfect for the St. Patricks Day.
I’m with you; I’d take these cookies over a beer for sure! They are so pretty and vibrant, I almost don’t want to eat them. I love the half-and-half look. But that mint chocolate is too good to resist. Yum!
I love how you got the colors on those cookies! And, I’ll have a drink for you. 🙂
These cookies are so lovely! my favourite st patrick’s day tradition (apart from trying guinness) is that you can have what you’ve given up for lent on that day – chocolate and crisps here I come!
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Monet, I am so thrilled to try these cookies. I am making them right now. I noticed that you said put the cocoa into the mint mixture in the description of how to assemble. Although it is not listed as one of the ingredients in the list. Hm…what should I do?
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