Developed from the same cookie dough used for my neapolitan cookies, these mint chocolate checkerboard cookies are shaped to resemble a fun checkerboard pattern. They’re soft butter cookies flavored with chocolate, mint, and topped with crisp sparkling sugar. It all starts from 1 basic cookie dough!
Oh what fun! We’re dressing up traditional vanilla and chocolate checkerboard cookies with a refreshing minty flair. These cookies are impressive and take a bit of precision. Nothing you can’t handle though. Let’s walk through the process together.
Tell Me About these Mint Chocolate Checkerboard Cookies
- Texture: These mint chocolate checkerboard cookies are slice and bake cookies, also known as icebox cookies. If you slice them thick enough—I recommend 1/2 inch thick—they’ll be wonderfully soft in the centers with crisp edges. The sparkling sugar on top is optional, but adds another layer of sparkly crunch.
- Flavor: Checkerboard cookies are typically vanilla and chocolate, but the addition of peppermint extract gives them a festive flavor. You could easily leave the mint dough plain or replace the peppermint extract with strawberry extract and a drop of pink/red food coloring instead. Cocoa powder adds the chocolate flavor, but I love adding a little espresso powder to the chocolate dough as well—deepens that chocolate flavor.
- Ease: Shaping these two doughs into a playful checkerboard pattern can be a little tricky, but use my step-by-step photos and detailed instructions below. Take your time and make sure you chill the cookie dough for the recommended times.
- Yield: This recipe yields 24 cookies if you slice each to be 1/2 inch thick. For 36 cookies, you can slice each to be 1/4 inch thick. I prefer the thicker cookies because they’re a bit softer in the centers.
One reader, Sarah, commented: “These cookies are outstanding! They turned out perfectly! I am not a great baker, but I can follow a good recipe. I read this recipe beginning to end before starting, followed the amazing pictures for support, and the result was outstanding! The best part is that for this recipe to really work, it feels like you need to slow down and sink into it. So it was both a stress reliever and a delicious outcome. ★★★★★”
Start with 1 Dough
When I wrote Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook a few years ago, I tested a basic vanilla butter cookie recipe. This recipe, written below, includes a handful of basic baking ingredients like flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. I turned the vanilla butter cookie recipe into pinwheel cookies, a recipe you can find on page 62 if you own a copy. I love this basic cookie dough and you can flavor it, shape it, and layer it in so many ways including my neapolitan cookies, pinwheel cookies, and today’s mint chocolate checkerboard cookies. Convenient!
Compared to my plain butter cookies and chocolate butter cookies, these buttery cookies are a bit lighter (addition of baking powder) and sweeter (more sugar). And the dough is a bit firmer since there’s precise shaping involved (more flour).
Prepare the base cookie dough, then divide it in half. One is mint, one is chocolate.
Photo Overview: How to Shape Checkerboard Cookies
The full written recipe is below, but let me lay out the shaping process into photographed steps right now. You’ll find this helpful when you begin.
Grab a ruler or measuring tape because precision is helpful. After you make your mint and chocolate cookie doughs, pictured above, carefully form into 6 inch rectangle blocks. Each block will be 2 inches tall and 2 inches wide. Wrap both dough blocks up in plastic wrap or cover on a plate (see left photo below). Refrigerate for just 1 hour. The *key* is to only refrigerate until the dough is less sticky, but still pliable enough to bend and shape. Chilling any longer will make it difficult to form a neat checkerboard pattern.
Now let’s start the checkerboard pattern. Remove doughs from refrigerator and unwrap. Using a sharp knife, cut each block lengthways into 3 even strips (see right photo above). Then cut each strip into thirds again. You’ll have 9 thin strips from each dough block:
As you can see in the photo above, my dough strips are a little uneven and messy, so for a neat checkerboard pattern, I like to trim off the rounded edges. Save your dough scraps because you can make extra cookies. See recipe note below.
Place 1 mint dough strip on your work surface. Line up a chocolate dough strip next to it. Line up a mint dough strip next to that. Top each with a row of alternating flavored dough strips, then top that with another row of alternating dough strips. Repeat with 2nd block, starting with a chocolate dough strip this time. As you’re working, press the strips tightly together to rid any gaps. This is why it’s important the doughs are still a bit soft and pliable.
If desired to keep the checkerboard pattern neat, trim off any rounded edges of your blocks. Cover or wrap your checkerboard blocks up tightly, then place back in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. This chill time is imperative and helps (1) firm up the dough you just handled and (2) set the checkerboard design. A crucial step!
After that, all you have to do is slice and bake.
Brush with a little egg wash—1 egg white mixed with water (convenient because you use 1 extra egg yolk in the cookie dough)—then sprinkle with coarse sugar. The egg white/sugar topping is optional, but adds a glistening touch on these pretty cookies. I always use Wilton brand white sparkling sugar which is a product you can find online or in the baking aisle of most grocery stores. If you can’t find it, Sugar in the Raw works too!
Checkerboard Design Success Tips
Before I leave you with the detailed recipe, let me summarize my 3 best success tips:
- Use measuring tape or a ruler. It’s important that your blocks of dough are equal size in step 7 because it makes shaping the checkerboard blocks easier in step 8. Take the time to be precise.
- Trim edges. For squared off cookies, trim any rounded edges with a sharp knife. In steps 8 and 11 below, trim the dough strips, checkerboard blocks, and sliced cookies. This is all optional, but it helps create neat looking checkerboard cookies. Don’t stress though—the cookies still taste awesome even if your pattern is messy.
- Chill for the recommended times. 1 hour in step 7 and 2 or more hours in step 9.
Mint Chocolate Checkerboard Cookies
- Prep Time: 4 hours, 45 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours
- Yield: 24-36 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Developed from the same cookie dough used for my neapolitan cookies, these mint chocolate checkerboard cookies are styled and shaped to resemble a checkerboard pattern. It all starts from 1 basic cookie dough! For best success, read through the recipe and notes before beginning because there are a couple chilling and shaping steps.
Ingredients
Base Cookie Dough
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature* (save extra egg white)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- optional for topping: 1 Tablespoon (15ml) water and 1/4 cup (50g) coarse sugar
For the Mint Dough
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- optional: 1 drop green food dye
For the Chocolate Dough
- 2 Tablespoons (10g) unsweetened natural or dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
- optional: 1 teaspoon espresso powder
Instructions
- Make the dough: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Dough will be thick and sticky. Remove from the mixing bowl. No need to rinse out the mixing bowl.
- Divide the dough in half: There’s almost 4 cups of dough. Divide in half, a bit less than 2 cups each.
- Make the mint dough: Place half of the dough back into the mixing bowl. Add the mint dough ingredients. I recommend starting with 1 small drop of green food coloring. Beat on low speed until dough is combined. Add another small drop of food coloring if desired. For the pictured cookies, I used 1 drop of leaf green gel food coloring. Remove from the mixing bowl. No need to rinse out the mixing bowl, but feel free to wipe clean.
- Make the chocolate dough: Place other half of dough back into the mixing bowl. Add all of the chocolate dough ingredients. Beat on low speed until dough is combined.
- Shape & chill cookie dough for just 1 hour: Place doughs on a lightly floured work surface. It’s sticky, so do your best in this step. With lightly floured hands, carefully form both doughs into a 6 inch long rectangle block, 2 inches tall and 2 inches wide. Wrap both dough blocks up in plastic wrap or place on a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Refrigerate for just 1 hour. The *key* is to only refrigerate until the dough is less sticky, but still pliable enough to bend and shape. Chilling any longer will make it difficult to form a neat checkerboard pattern. If you need to chill it for longer than 1 hour, make sure you let it sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes before continuing with the next step.
- Shape the dough: See photos in the blog post above for visuals of this step. Remove doughs from refrigerator and unwrap. Using a sharp knife, cut each block lengthways into 3 even strips. Then cut each strip into thirds again. You’ll have 9 thin strips from each dough block. My strips are usually a little uneven and messy, so for a neat checkerboard pattern, I always trim off* any rounded edges. Place 1 mint dough strip on your work surface. Line up a chocolate dough strip next to it. Line up a mint dough strip next to that. Top each with a row of alternating flavored dough strips, then top that with another row of alternating dough strips. Repeat with 2nd block, starting with a chocolate dough strip this time. As you’re working, press the strips tightly together to rid any gaps. (This is why it’s important the doughs are still a bit soft and pliable.) If desired to keep the checkerboard pattern neat, trim off* any rounded edges of your blocks.
- Chill for 2 more hours: Wrap each block of dough back up or cover and refrigerate for 2 more hours and up to 4 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Slice and bake: Slice each block into 12 1/2-inch thick cookies. For thinner cookies, slice each block into 18 cookies, about 1/3-inch thick. (Bake time will be about 1 minute shorter.) Trim the cookie edges* to make neat squares, if desired.
- Arrange cookies 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheets. If desired, brush each lightly with egg wash (see recipe note) and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until very lightly browned around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. You can shape the cookie doughs in the checkerboard pattern blocks and chill in the refrigerator for up to 4 days (see step 9). You can also freeze the checkerboard pattern blocks for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then continue with step 10.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Americolor Leaf Green Gel Food Coloring | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush | Coarse Sugar | Espresso Powder | Cooling Rack
- Eggs/Egg Wash: You need 1 egg plus an additional egg yolk for the cookie dough. Save the extra egg white and mix it with 1 Tablespoon of water to make a simple egg wash. Brush this over each cookie as directed in step 12, then sprinkle with coarse sugar before baking. This gives the cookies a little crunch and sparkle.
- Trimmed Off/Excess Dough: In steps 8 and 11, I recommend trimming the dough strips, checkerboard blocks, and sliced cookies. This is optional, but it helps create neat looking checkerboard cookies. You’ll have some leftover cookie dough scraps. Discard or meld them together, roll out with a rolling pin (about 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick), and cut into shapes. Bake as directed in this recipe.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Great, fun to make recipe! A note on the weight of the ‘basic’ dough: for ease of dividing I weighed the dough before dividing, and ended up with 748g. So I divided into two batches of 374g to make the chocolate and the mint dough. Thanks Sally and team!
I made this for the alternate baking challenge for 2024 and they were delicious!
It took a while to prep and make, and they didn’t turn out to be perfectly put together, but me and my partner have been loving them for the Christmas week.
I made these for the December 2024 baking challenge. I’d been avoiding checker cookies because I was intimidated by the prices, but (as usual) Sally breaks down the steps to make this impressive cookie doable for the home baker.
I gave this a 4/5 stars because I found the peppermint to be overwhelming. We love peppermint in my house, but it was a bit ‘toothpaste’-like. I’m pretty sure that decreasing the amount from 1 tsp to 3/4 or even 1/2 tsp would take care of that issue. I found that the flavors mellowed and blended together more nicely after freezing for a couple of weeks.
Thanks for teaching me another new skill! I feel confident knowing that I could make this type of cookie now!
Fun recipe! Enjoyed putting together- I wasn’t perfect but had a good time anyway! Interesting cookie combo
I made this alternate recipe for December’s 2024 month’s challenge. A fun, easy (very straight forward instructions), festive cookie. It will be fun to try other flavor extracts with the chocolate.
This recipe was so approachable and turned out an excellent cookie! I added 1/8 tsp of almond extract instead of making the mint half (no mint on hand), and these are really really good! Usually this type of cookie can bake up dry but these are really the perfect cookie.
Love your recipes. How is your chocolate dough such a rich color with only two tablespoons of cocoa powder?
Hi Jessie, a little goes a long way! You can use natural or Dutch-process cocoa powder here – Dutch process cocoa powder has a deeper color.
This was for the December 2024 baking challenge, and I never thought I could do cookies like this! The photos and explanations were really really helpful and my cookies turned out really well for my first time! I followed the recipe exactly and i know where i can improve for the next time! (Do a better job measuring the slices and trimming the parts that bulge out)
I reduced the sugar by 1/3 and added almond extract instead of mint. My kids loved them. Pretty and tasty.
Just made these. They are very cute cookies. In future I would increase the peppermint as personal preference. These were slightly minty, but not minty enough for me. Didn’t like the egg wash look on my test bake cookie so skipped that part. I did roll the edges in coarse sugar without the egg wash and it had no problem sticking, as I found the dough extremely soft, even after being in the fridge for 24 hours.
I made this for a baking challenge. The cookies were good, great to give as gifts. Would look stunning on a festive cookie board!
This recipe was easy to make and if you like peppermint this would a good choice
The instructions for checkering were very confusing. I ended up with a terrible block of a cookie that did not remotely resemble the images. Very disappointing because the cookies look pretty in the pictures. I consulted the blog post for help and completely failed! This is the first recipe from this blog that I’ve ever had trouble with — everything else has turned out amazing!
Hi Jess, I’m so sorry you had trouble with this recipe. If you don’t mind, could you tell me which part in the shaping step was confusing? I can see if I can make some edits to the wording to make it easier to understand.
These cookies were easier to make than I first thought. The step by step instructions were very helpful. Nice cookies, soft, with a nice flavour. Good but not great. A lot of effort for an underwhelming result. Although, if you like cookies that are plainer, and not too sweet, these could be for you.
What would you suggest for gluten free….i want to make them for school potluck but not used to baking gluten free
Hi Chris! We haven’t tested these cookies with gluten free flour, but let us know if you do.
Hi Sally; I don’t know where to look for a reply to a question I sent; I was asking if I can use a different cookie for the oreo cookie recipe
Hi Tula, we see your question was for the Oreo Balls recipe, right? You could try using golden Oreos or another flavor other than the classic chocolate, but that recipe is formulated for Oreo cookies.
I am from Tennessee and I was wondering what you would recommend for flavoring and coloring to make a Big Orange checkerboard cookie for football Saturdays.
Hi Cristie, you could try using some orange flavor extract, and a little orange gel food coloring, to make a chocolate-orange flavored/colored checkerboard cookie.
Do you have a flavor suggestions besides mint? Our family is not a fan.
Anything helpful hints are appreciated!
Hi Angela, checkerboard cookies are typically vanilla and chocolate, so you could easily leave the mint dough plain vanilla, or replace the peppermint extract with strawberry extract and a drop of pink/red food coloring instead, or try orange extract and a drop of orange food coloring. And a little almond extract added to the vanilla dough will give it more of a sugar cookie flavor, if you’d like to try that!
Great instructions and recipe for a beginner baker like me, only comment is that the grams don’t match the cups (I used 2.5 cups of flour but it was way more than 313 grams when weighed), but they turned out very nice! They’ll definitely look amazing if you follow all the tips and slice them the right size for baking. I’d personally add a little more cocoa for a stronger chocolate flavour since I like a richer chocolate taste but they were still delicious! Will make again, maybe with some different flavours next time.
hey! i was wondering why you used peppermint extract instead of regular mint extract, does it help with the taste?
Hi Morgan, we find that mint extract tastes more like toothpaste than anything and always recommend peppermint extract for baking.
I haven’t made this yet, but have a question.
If all I have is salted butter, then can I use that and omit the extra 1/2 tsp of salt?
Hi Sherri, that should be fine and you can try a 1/4 tsp of salt.
Thank you for this recipe! I have always been too intimidated to try something like this but with your recipe and photos I had the guidance and encouragement I needed and I love the results. My cookies certainly wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny in a competition, but my circle of friends will be impressed when they see them – and taste them!
My cookies flattened during baking and lost their nice perfect square shape. I did all the preceding chilling steps. Any ideas why that happened? They still tasted great!
Hi Kristi, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. It sounds like your butter may have been a bit too warm (room temperature butter may be cooler than you think!) and/or the flour was under measured (be sure to spoon and level or use a scale to ensure just the right amount). This post on how to prevent cookies from spreading may also be a helpful resource to review. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
My family likes them thin, almost cracker like, if your does like mine, like 8 to 10 minutes maybe less. Keep eyes on it. Otherwise a great recipe
This is such an amazing recipe. I made the pinwheels and also made checkerboard cookies using the same recipe. My two grandsons four and two year olds loved them and gobbled them up!!!
Thank you for your amazing recipes. I use your recipes for breads, pizzas and almost everything else!
Love the Cookies and look amazing! But I was told they were a bit dry. How do I make the cookie not leave a dry taste? Or is it suppose to be like that?
Hi Brandon, dry cookies are often the result of too much flour in the dough. Be sure to spoon and level your flour to measure to ensure just the right amount. In addition, you can try reducing the bake time by just a minute or two — over baked cookies can sometimes taste dry. Thanks so much for giving these cookies a try!
Thank you for this great recipe!
I made them with pink instead of vanilla (color) for a baby shower (Its a Girl)!
I didn’t use any flavoring but might try strawberry next time!
What a great cookie! I made the dough up in advance and froze the two checkerboard logs to bake later with my granddaughter. This was a favorite with the entire family. I didn’t have peppermint extract, but did have peppermint oil, so substituted a scant 1/4 tsp and I thought it was just the right amount. We sliced the cookies slightly thicker, as you suggested, and it created a nice soft cookie. I’m looking forward to trying the Neapolitan style cookie!
Hi! My name is Eliza and I loved these cookies! They were super soft and they had the perfect amount of sweetness. My mom said these were the best cookies she’s ever tasted! Thank you for posting these wonderful recipes!
Do you have any recipes for diabetes cooking??
Hi Antonette! We’re not experts in sugar free baking, but you may find some useful recipes in our healthier recipes section if you would like to browse there!
This was a good one! A challenge for me as part of the October Baking Challenge. A good learning experience with tasty results. I learned by doing on this one! Got better as I went along.