Fresh Mint Desserts: Cakes, Cookies, Frozen Treats & More

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There’s no such thing as a small mint harvest. I grow a basic mint and a chocolate mint and spend a good part of the summer pulling up roots and passing them along to anyone who will take them. Even so there’s always more than enough.

I dry some for winter tea and infuse some into honey, but the kitchen is where most of it ends up — and desserts especially. Mint has a natural affinity for chocolate and cream and summer fruit that makes it one of the most useful herbs in a sweet kitchen.

Here are some of my favorite ways to use it up.

A collage of images - with a cup of hot chocolate on a placement on top of a text overlay box reading: 10+ dessert recipes featuring fresh mint. Under the text box is 2 images - the left image is a piece of cake with chocolate frosting. the right image is a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting.

Tips for Using Fresh Mint

The flavor of mint is strong but it can easily be overpowered by other strong flavors and seems to lose its strength in baking. To get the most flavor out of fresh mint consider these tips:

Cream it well with butter. When baking cookies or cakes, for example, beat the well chopped mint with the butter and sugar. This creaming action will help get much of the flavor absorbed into the fat and sugar which will carry throughout the dessert.

Infuse well. Anytime there is a liquid ingredient, milk or water for example, infuse the mint into that and let it cool before continuing on with the recipe. This strong mint tea will again help carry the flavor throughout the entire dessert.

Puree if appropriate. Puree the mint with the liquid for an even stronger flavor than infusing. This works great, however; it likely means a green color to the final product. That may or may not be ideal for some things. If you’re going to add cocoa powder or chocolate it won’t be noticed but it likely might in something else. Go with what feels most appealing to you or those who are being served.

How to Preserve Mint for Desserts

Drying mint is easy. Simply hang in bunches and dry. Use 1/3 less dried mint for the fresh mint called for in recipes. This may or may not always work. It doesn’t always work well to leave the bits of dried mint in cookies for example. Creaming dried mint with butter isn’t likely to turn out as delightful. It will work great for things that are infused and then the mint strained out, however.

Make and freeze compound butter. Add 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint to 1/2 cup of softened butter. Mix well. Then wrap in waxed paper and freeze. When you’re ready to make this winter simply thaw and proceed with the recipe.

Candy fresh mint leaves. While these candied leaves aren’t used directly in recipes, they make a beautiful, edible decorative touch to baked goods all winter long.