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Filled with white chocolate chips and chunks of candy cane these Peppermint Cookies are pretty and delicious. A soft chewy cookie that is full of peppermint goodness.
Favorite Christmas Cookies
December is here and believe it or not there are only 23 more days until Christmas. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is peppermint. It is definitely my flavor of the season. I love peppermint anything and everything and these peppermint cookies are at the top of the list..
They are a soft, chewy cookie with white chocolate chips and little chunks of peppermint candy cane which make them even more chewy. They make the perfect cookie for your Christmas cookie exchange too.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- White Chocolate Chips. If I can find them, I love to use Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips for this recipe but they can be hard to find. These cookies would also be delicious with semi sweet chocolate chips.
- Peppermint Extract. This is not the same as mint extract, you want peppermint! You want peppermint extract for the best peppermint flavor.
- Peppermint Candies. I use either crushed up candy canes or those those round hard peppermint candy if you like.
- Flour. All purpose flour
- Baking Powder
- Butter. Softened
- Egg
- Salt
- Vanilla Extract
- Pink or Red Food Coloring. Optional
How To Make Peppermint Cookies
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Grease cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper.
- Place peppermint candies or candy canes into a zippered plastic bag and roll over them with a rolling pin or press down on them with a cast iron pan to crush them.
- In a bowl, cream together sugar, butter, egg, salt and food coloring. Add in vanilla and half teaspoon peppermint extract. I use a stand mixer.
- Stir in baking powder, all purpose flour, and salt.
- Add white chocolate chips. There is no need to chill the dough.
- Scoop dough into ball, dip ball in crushed candy canes.
- For a flatter peppermint cookies, press down to flatten the cookie dough slightly.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Allow peppermint cookies to cool slightly on the baking sheet and then remove to a wire rack.
Peppermint Cookie Tips
- Because the crushed peppermint melts onto the baking sheet, using parchment paper or a silicone mat definitely makes cleanup easier.
- I discovered that the cookies turn out much better if only the top half is dipped into the peppermint candy. If the whole ball is covered in peppermint, the candy cane melts over the cookie sheet and makes a mess! Then they don’t look so pretty.
- If some of the candy cane pieces do melt onto the cookie sheet, after they cool you can break off the brown sugar pieces to make the peppermint cookies look nicer or just eat them the way they are!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to use food coloring?
Food coloring is not required, your peppermint cookie will just not be as pink but it will taste just as good!
Can I freeze these cookies?
These peppermint cookies freeze great. You can find all my tips and tricks for freezing baked cookies here. If you prefer to freeze the cookie dough follow these directions. Be sure and use an airtight container.
Can I add nuts?
If you are a nut fan, add in some chopped pecans, macadamia or walnuts. Use about 1/2 cup
White chocolate and peppermint is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Check out some other recipes that use this flavor combo:
- White Chocolate Peppermint Toffee
- Peppermint Oatmeal Cookies
- Peppermint Melting Moments
- White Chocolate Peppermint Pretzels
- Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
Peppermint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- pink or red food coloring
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 cup mint chocolate chips
- 6 candy canes crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Grease cookie sheet
- Cream together sugar, butter, egg, salt and food coloring.
- Stir in baking powder, flour and vanilla.
- Add chocolate chips.
- Roll dough into ball, dip in crushed candy canes.
- Bake 10 minutes.
Tips & Notes:
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Nutrition Facts:
Originally posted December 2, 2015
Ruth says
I made alterations to my taste. I substituted coconut oil for butter. I used 1/2 cup sugar (and it was still too sweet for me). I used white chocolate chips and added 2 tbs half and half. I omitted the food coloring. I think next time I will add 1/2 c pretzel pieces to balance the sweetness. Great and simple recipe to use up leftover candy canes.
hayley says
i just made these cookies and they were sooo yummy!! i used white chocolate chips. they will look so pretty on my treat plates that i make for neighbors and friends. thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Tamie says
FYI – Yesterday we made the Candy Cane Snowballs in post #37 above and they are wonderful! They taste great and the kids had fun helping me dip them in the chocolate and candy canes. 🙂
A new favorite of ours are these Roly Poly Santas. I got the recipe from Taste of Home and if you make them you should go to their website to see a picture…you really need it to see how cute they are and how to put them together. http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Roly-Poly-Santas
Rolling all the balls takes awhile, but even just one of them on a tray of cookies makes a big difference!
ROLY POLY SANTAS
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• Red paste food coloring
• Miniature chocolate chips
• FROSTING:
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, divided
• 2 tablespoons milk, divided
DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add milk and vanilla; mix well. Add flour and mix well. Remove 1 cup dough; add red food coloring. Shape white dough into 12 balls, 3/4 in. each, and 48 balls, 1/4 in. each. Shape red dough into 12 balls, 1 in. each, and 60 balls, 1/2 in. each. Place the 1-in. red balls on two ungreased baking sheets for the body of 12 Santas; flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Attach 3/4-in. white balls for heads; flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Attach four 1/2-in. red balls to each Santa for arms and legs. Attach 1/4-in. white balls to ends of arms and legs for hands and feet. Shape remaining 1/2-in. red balls into hats (see the photo). Add chocolate chip eyes and buttons.
Bake at 325° for 12-15 minutes or until set. Cool for 10 minutes; carefully remove from pans to wire racks (cookies will be fragile).
For frosting, combine shortening and vanilla in a small mixing bowl; mix well. Gradually add 1-1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar; add 1 tablespoon milk. Gradually add remaining sugar and milk. Fill a pastry bag with frosting. With a round decorator’s tip, add a band of icing on hat, cuffs at hands and feet, and down the front and at bottom of jacket. Use a small star tip to pipe beard and pom-pom on hat.
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Yield: 1 dozen.