Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: I just love the refreshing yet sweet combination of chocolate and mint!
Texture: Just slightly crunchy at the edges and tender and soft throughout.
Ease: These look so impressive and luckily they are deceptively easy!
Pros: Fun, festive, and easy.
Cons: None!
Would I make this again? Definitely!
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With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, I couldn’t think of a more perfect recipe to share than these Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies!
These pinwheel cookies are SO fun and festive and would look adorable at any St. Paddy’s Day celebration.
These cookies are also perfect for making with the kiddos as a fun after-school or weekend activity.
Check out my pinwheel cookie tips just below, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies
How to Avoid Hard, Dry Pinwheel Cookies
It’s super easy to accidentally compact too much flour into your cups when measuring by volume. To avoid dry, hard, dense pinwheel cookies, I highly recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure your flour and cocoa powder. If you don’t have a scale, learn how to use the spoon and level method here.
Making Perfect Spirals in Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies
Be sure that your butter isn’t too warm. Start with butter at a cool room temperature, about 67°F, and keep the dough at that temperature (or even cooler) until it hits the oven. If your butter is too warm, your pinwheel cookies will spread too much in the oven.
Also, be sure to chill your dough before baking. This is key to keeping those spirals intact. More on this just below.
Do You Need to Chill This Cookie Dough?
Yes – but not for long, I promise! After rolling out and combining the dough into a log, we’ll freeze it for about 30 minutes to firm it up, and then cut the log into slices. While your oven preheats, you can re-chill the dough, to prevent spreading and ensure your cookies maintain their beautiful spirals.
You can chill the dough longer, if needed – up to 48 hours, as long as it’s well-covered with plastic wrap. Any longer and your dough may become dry. Learn more about chilling cookie dough here.
What Kind of Baking Sheet is Best for Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies?
A light-colored aluminum half-sheet pan is my favorite for baking cookies. Avoid dark nonstick pans entirely – they brown too much and may burn the bottoms of your cookies. Check out my Baking Pans 101 post to learn about my baking pan experiments and see the side-by-side pictures.
Should I Line my Baking Sheets with Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats?
I prefer parchment paper for cookies over silicone mats to line my cookie sheets. Parchment is easier and quicker to clean up. Silicone mats like Silpats can actually lead to more spreading and browning. Check out my Silpat vs. Parchment article here. Whatever you do, never spray your baking sheet, parchment paper, or silicone mat with nonstick cooking spray when baking cookies. This will lead to too much browning and spread (hello, burnt cookie puddles).
How to Store Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies
Store Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Store cookies with a tortilla to keep them soft for longer.
Can You Freeze Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies?
Baked pinwheel cookies can be frozen and stored in an airtight container for up to 1 month. I haven’t tried baking this cookie dough from frozen, but check out my How to Freeze Cookie Dough article for more info on freezing cookie dough.
More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes You’ll Love:
- Guinness Chocolate Cake with Irish Buttercream
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Whiskey Truffles
- Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
- Bailey’s Cheesecake Bars
- Mint Chocolate Whoopie Pies
Check out all my St. Patrick’s Day Recipes here!
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Chocolate Mint Pinwheel Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups (286 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 sticks (226 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at cool room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 teaspoon green food coloring
- 3 tablespoons (16 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until well-combined and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and extracts and beat until combined. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Remove half the dough from the bowl and set aside. Beat green food coloring into one portion of dough until evenly colored. Into other half of dough, stir in cocoa powder and milk until just combined.
- Place the chocolate dough between two large sheets of parchment paper. Roll dough into a large rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Repeat with remaining green dough. Carefully place the green dough rectangle on top of the chocolate dough rectangle, peeling away the parchment from the green dough. Trim edges if necessary. Using the parchment paper under the chocolate dough as a guide to prevent sticking, roll the long side of the dough into a tight log, creating a pinwheel effect. Wrap log in plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes, or until firm.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the dough log into 1/2-inch slices. Place slices on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until set. Remove baking sheets to the cooling racks and let cool for 2 minutes before removing the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
This post was originally posted in 2015 and has been updated with recipe tips and metric ingredient measurements.
Is there any way that I can substitute the mint extract for matcha? I want to make matcha chocolate pinwheel cookies 🙂
Hi Luli! We haven’t tried that, but any extract should be able to be swapped for the mint – just note that different extracts will carry different levels of potency, so be cautious when adding another extract. If you’re using a powder, this will be more difficult and will require some experimentation, as it will be a dry ingredient instead of a tiny amount of a liquid. Good luck and happy baking!
I made my pinwheel cookies ahead of schedule and froze them. How long should I thaw them before slicing and baking?
Hi Devona! We recommend thawing overnight in the fridge, before baking (or before slicing and baking, in your case). Let us know what you think once you’ve given these cookies a try! 🙂