the making of mint chip pudge

When we began developing mint chip, we could see two approaches for drastically different cookies. We could pursue the very nostalgic ice-cream-like mint chip flavor. Or we could pursue chocolate peppermint (think coal pudge with mint chips, with a thin mint vibe). I find it fascinating that they're fit for opposing seasons (summer/winter).

We’ve received many requests for chocolate peppermint for the fall season, but none for mint chip. This flavor is seldomly associated with cookies, and that's one reason we wanted to bring it into pudgy life. The result: pure delight.

Let’s dive into the making of mint chip. It was ALMOST a one-recipe wonder. For reference, recipes typically take us as few as ~6 versions, or 23+. Every recipe gets revisited each year to optimize for flavor, texture, sweetness, and baking scalability. V1 mint chip was delightful; then we added a little more mint and called it a case-closed. The next couple versions were spent figuring out color and aesthetic.

We wanted to top mint chip pudge with a 3D waffle cone hat like a bugle! But bulk waffle cones weren’t small enough for our size requirements. For now it’s not feasible for us to make our perfect lil waffle cone hats, so we’ve gone with a 2D stroopwafel cut to size.

The other future optimization would be to prevent some of the browning in mint chip pudge. It’s natural, of course, for cookies to brown, and can be a good sign that the cookies were baked at an appropriate temperature and yields a crisp edge. But it distracts from the nostalgia and illusion of this flavor being mint chip.

If you compare the color of mint chip (which has 3 drops of green food coloring vs. key lime’s 1 drop), you’ll notice that key lime barely takes on any browning at all. It’s pH related and we’re glad that key lime just being naturally acidic, we didn’t have to actively work to prevent browning. We may be onto a working solution already to address mint chip pudge’s color. We look forward to revealing an update.