Chocolate Peppermint Cookies – Festive Holiday Treat
These Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are a festive treat for the holidays. The dough is easy to work with, making it perfect for cutout shapes like stars or any design you like.
These fun cutout cookies are great for gifting and eating. They are a festive, delicious chocolate cookie that the whole family will love. The chocolate and peppermint pair very well together.
These cookies are so different from my usual Christmas cookies. Very festive and really set off a cookie platter! Oh, yeah, and chocolate.
What You Need
- Butter: Always use unsalted butter when baking.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar is fine. There is no reason to use expensive sugar.
- Eggs: Grade A large eggs are the best. If you use fresh eggs, be careful, oftentimes farm stand eggs are extra large or jumbo.
- Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla flavoring.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is fine.
- Cocoa Powder: Use Dutch-process cocoa powder.
- Leavening: Baking powder is the leavening to use here.
- Salt: Table salt is fine for these cookies.
How to Make Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat again until it’s light and fluffy.
Measure dry ingredients into a large bowl.
Whisk them together.
Add dry ingredients in three increments. Mix well. Make sure to scrape the bowl.
Place the dough on a large sheet of waxed paper. Chill for at least four hours or overnight.
To Cut the Cookies Out
To roll, flour your board or a sheet of waxed paper. Place a small amount of dough on top. Cover the dough with another sheet of waxed paper. It’s easiest to roll it on waxed paper.
Roll to 1/4″ thickness. Peel the waxed paper from the top. Then, replace it and flip the dough over. Remove the other piece of paper from the dough, rather than trying to scrape the dough off the cutting board with a spatula. It peels off effortlessly.
Cut out desired shapes.
Pick up the cookies off the board with a thin spatula.
Place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. Don’t let the cookies brown. Cool completely on a rack
To decorate the cookies, melt the chocolate and drizzle it on the cookies in a zigzag pattern. Crush candy canes in a plastic bag. Sprinkle candy cane pieces on the cookies while the chocolate is still wet.
Drizzle the remainder of the chocolate on top of the cookies. Allow to dry for at least an hour until the chocolate hardens.
Make Them Ahead
There are a few steps, as with all cutout cookies, but these are not difficult by any means. Freeze up to 4 weeks for best quality
How to Store the Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Store the cookies on the counter for 3-4 days or store in the refrigerator for about a week.
Another great thing is that these Chocolate Peppermint Cookies freeze well. Just freeze them in an airtight container between sheets of waxed paper for up to a month.
FAQs
Yes. In fact, candy canes are easier to crush.
You don’t have to cut the cookies out as stars. Snowflakes, Christmas trees, wreaths, any shape that you like.
These cookies can be kept at room temperature for a few days. After that, they should be refrigerated or frozen.
Yes. The dough can be made up to two days ahead of rolling it out.
Dutch-process cocoa gives the richest chocolate flavor, but natural cocoa works too.
Chill the dough thoroughly before rolling and cutting, and avoid over-softening the butter. Also, take small pieces out of the refrigerator at a time when rolling them out.
Definitely, a simple powdered sugar glaze or buttercream with crushed candy canes works well.
Yes, they hold up well in holiday tins and make a festive addition to cookie platters.
Shipping and Gifting Tips
If you are shipping cookies to out-of-town friends and relatives, this cookie is a good choice.
- Pack the cookies in a metal or hard plastic cookie tin to reduce the chance of crushing.
- Add a few layers of waxed paper between layers of cookies.
- Fill any large gaps with wadded-up pieces of waxed paper.
- Be sure the tin is full, either with cookies or waxed paper, to prevent the cookies from moving around during shipping.
More Holiday Cookie Recipes
- Santa Claus Cutout Cookies
- Jam-filled Cookies
- Hildabroetchen
- Ischler- Austrian shortbread cookies
- Vanillekipferl -Viennese Crescent Cookies
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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Ingredients
For Dough
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups Sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup Cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
For Decoration
- 20-25 mini candy canes
- 2 boxes Baker’s Chocolate, semisweet 8oz. total
Instructions
- Measure dry ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.
- Cream butter and sugar, until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, scraping bowl to clean.
- Wrap dough in waxed paper and chill for at least a few hours, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll portions of dough on a lightly floured surface sandwiched in waxed paper, to 1/4″ thickness.
- Cut out desired shapes with 3″ cutters.
- Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheet, 1″ apart. Bake 10-12 minutes, until set. Cool on wire racks.
For Decorating
- Crush candy canes in plastic bag in varying sized pieces.
- Drizzle chocolate in a zigzag fashion. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
- Drizzle remaining chocolate on top of candy canes.
- Can be stored in air tight container, between waxed paper, in freezer for up to a month.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Originally published December 5, 2018. Updated November .
Recipe Name: Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Type: Dessert, Holiday Cookies, Cutout Cookies
Main Ingredients: Butter, Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla, Flour, Dutch‑process Cocoa, Baking Powder, Salt, Chocolate, Candy Canes
Prep Time: [enter prep minutes]
Cook Time: 10 to 12 minutes per sheet
Total Time: [enter total] plus chill time
Yield: [enter yield] cookies depending on cutter size
Special Equipment: Rolling pin, Cutters, Baking sheet, Cooling rack, Wax paper
Great For: Christmas trays, Gifting, Cookie exchanges
