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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.
- Â I discovered that the cookies turn out much better if only the top half is dipped into the peppermint candy. Â 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:
Recommended Products
Nutrition Facts:
Originally posted December 2, 2015
Joan Callaway says
One of my traditional Christmas cookies:
Cherry Bars
Part 1. 1/2 cup butter
2 T. powdered sugar
1 cup flour
Cut butter into flour and sugar as in making pie dough. Spread in a 9 x 13 pan and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and spread with the following:
Mix together: 2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
4 oz. bottle of maraschino cherries, finely diced, including juice
3/4 c. walnuts, finely chopped
Bake until lightly browned and puffed up. (Your oven temperature may vary from mine.)
Cool slightly. Cut into squares while still warm.
Fran says
HOMEMADE NUTTER BUTTER’S
(these are not crunchy like the boughten ones, they are very soft)
1 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Filling:
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
For cookies, cream together margarine and peanut butter. Add sugars, eggs, and vanilla and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. Add dry ingredients. Ball cookies and drop onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.(I make these cookies smaller than normal, since they are a sandwich cookie.) Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool completely.
While cookies are cooling, make filling.
Cream together, margarine and peanut butter. Add powdered sugar, and milk. Mix very well. If filling is too thin to spread on cookies, add some more powdered sugar.
Put a scoop of filling in the middle of the underside of half the cookies. Put remaining cookies on top and press down lightly to squeeze filling out to the edges.
I make these cookies often, and have been asked for the recipe many, many times.
Kara says
Oh man, I have a cookie fetish, so I can’t wait to see everyone’s recipes! It was so hard to pick just one. I actually have about 5 absolute favorite Christmas cookie recipes. However, this is the one that gets the most requests every single year. They look so pretty on a cookie tray. (You can see a picture of them on my blog if you want to see the finished results.)
White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnaps
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 1/4 cups flour
4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
Sugar
3 cups white chips (I use Guittard brand)
3 Tbsp oil or shortening
Beat oil, sugar, eggs, and molasses. Stir in dry ingredients. Roll dough into small balls and roll in sugar. Bake on lightly greased cookie sheets at 350 for about 7 minutes. Cool completely. Combine chips and oil in a small glass bowl. Microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Dip cookies half way into the white chocolate and lay on waxed paper till set.
Thanks Leigh Anne for such a fun contest!
Melody says
Sugar Gems
Cream together:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Add:
5 cups flour
1 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Mix all ingredients well. Roll into golf size balls and place on cookie sheets. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Cool and frost with sugar gem frosting.
Sugar Gem Frosting
2-2 ½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup oil
2 tsp flavoring (almond, vanilla, coconut, etc.)
3-4 Tbsp milk
Mix well and add a little more milk or powdered sugar to get the right consistency.
Becky says
Making these cookies each year w/my kids is a very fun tradition. The recipe makes a lot, but its hard to stop at just a few. These make a wonderful gift paired w/some hot chocolate. BTW, we recently had the brie cranberry pizza-it was SO good. Thank you for your wonderful blog.
Peppernut Cookies
Mix together:
2 3/4 C. sugar
1 1/4 C. butter
1 C. less 2T. evaporated milk
Add:
4 C. flour
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
2 C. ground pecans (grind in blender)
Mix together, adding enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.
Roll into pencil like strips, cut about 1/2″ long. Place on baking sheet and flatten each cookie a bit w/your finger. Bake at 350 degrees for aprox. 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Enjoy!