These Chocolate Peppermint Cookies deliver rich cocoa flavor, melty chocolate chips, and a festive peppermint crunch. The holiday cookie you’ll want on repeat all season!
Every year, Erin at The Speckled Palate and Susannah at Feast + West host The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange, where they collect one or more cookie recipes from all different bloggers. An old-fashioned cookie exchange, but virtual! This year, I'm participating with these holiday-ready chocolate peppermint cookies.
Let me give you some background first. During my French pastry chef training, we learned several classic French cookies from Brown Butter Madeleines to buttery Cocoa Nib Shortbread Cookies. But the classic thick and chewy American chocolate chip cookie? Not at all.
Luckily, over my many years of cookie baking, I’ve perfected a base recipe that I now use whenever I’m testing a new version. These chocolate chip peppermint cookies are a great example—an addition of cocoa powder and two types of peppermint flavor plus a few adjustments to the flour and butter, and I had it.
The cocoa powder helps the structure on these so they are sturdier than a thin, chewy chocolate chip cookie. That makes these idea for stacking, which is perfect for a festive cookie bag. Just tie with a red ribbon and make someone’s day!
Jump to:
Why You'll Love These Peppermint Chocolate Cookies
- Not overly sweet, and doubles down on peppermint flavor with extract and candy-cane crunch.
- Simple method, simple ingredients, with no mixer required.
- Chef-tested and holiday-party approved, with the perfect balance of cocoa + mint.
- A stunner on your holiday cookie platter.
🥗 Ingredient Tips
- Butter: I use unsalted butter, but honestly salted butter is perfectly fine as well.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: I prefer a dutch-process cocoa powder like this Guittard Cocoa Powder or this Valrhona Cocoa Powder (affiliate links). They’ve got deep chocolate flavor that really makes a difference in a cookie like this.
- Peppermint Extract: Leave out if you can’t find this, and add another ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract instead. Don't use spearmint extract—it tastes like gum!
- Chocolate Chips: Semisweet is my go-to, but try bittersweet if you love a darker flavor. Or go the opposite direction by folding in white chocolate chips. (Or combine them!)
- Candy Canes: I love to DIY my candy cane crunch, but feel free to buy the pre-crushed peppermint crunch at the store. Or use crushed peppermint candies.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is what you want for this recipe.
- Sugars: I like a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar, but you can use one or the other if you’d like. The brown sugar adds a little bit of a caramelized flavor to the cookies.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in a large bowl in the microwave for 75 seconds at 50% power until butter is very soft but not totally melted.
3. Whisk in ⅓ cup granulated white sugar (75g) and ¾ cup packed light brown sugar (160g).
4. Whisk in 2 eggs, one at a time.
5. Now whisk in ½ cup cocoa powder (50g).
6. Then whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon peppermint extract.
7. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g), 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
8. Stir dry ingredients into the wet mixture with a sturdy wooden spoon.
9. Stir in 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (175g).
10. Chill batter in the refrigerator for at least 20-30 minutes.
11. While batter is chilling, preheat oven to 350°F.
12. Unwrap 5 candy canes and add to a ziplock bag. Then use a mallet to crush them up. You should have about ⅓ cup of crushed candy canes.
13. Use a slightly overfilled 1 ½-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out cookie dough, then roll into balls with your hands.
14. Arrange on the parchment-lined baking sheet, then press down slightly and sprinkle with the crushed candy canes.
15. Bake for 9-10 minutes, until cookies look firm and no longer glossy on top.
16. Remove baking sheet from oven, and bang it on the counter 2-3 times.
17. Let cookies sit for 2 minutes, then remove and let cool on a wire rack.
Storage Tips
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Note that the candy cane topping on this cookie does not handle freezing/defrosting well. I would suggest freezing the cookie balls before baking (and before adding the peppermint topping) if you want to make these in advance rather than freezing the baked cookies.
🧐 Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Recipe FAQs
Yes, but be very careful—peppermint oil is stronger. Start with just a few drops and adjust to taste. And ensure you are using food-grade peppermint oil of course!
Yes. Without chilling, the cookies spread too quickly and will be too thin.
With baking, always! A good kitchen scale is one of my favorite tools because precise measurements when baking make all the difference in a recipe.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
It can be hard to tell when a chocolate cookie is done, because you can’t see the difference in color between the edges and the center. Don’t overcook, or the cookies will be very dense. Err on the side of taking them out a little early, as the cocoa powder will firm them up as they cool. And as always, doing a test bake of a cookie or two in your oven is always recommended!
Softening the butter in the microwave helps give you that fudgy texture you want in a chocolate cookie. Plus, it helps you whisk the sugars in smoothly. If your mixing bowl is not microwave safe, just soften the butter in a measuring cup, then transfer to your mixing bowl.
Chill the dough, but don’t leave it in there too long or it will be really hard to scoop. If you do want to make the dough in advance, let it chill for about 30 minutes, until you can easily scoop and roll the cookie balls. Then leave the cookie balls (without the candy cane topping) in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Or put them on a parchment lined tray in the freezer until frozen solid, then transfer to a freezer-safe ziplock bag. You can bake them directly from the freezer, but add another minute or two to the bake time. And sprinkle with the candy cane crumbs right before baking.
Bang the pan. It’s optional but honestly worth it for surface cracks and slightly denser centers.
Crush your candy canes just before baking, as the crumbs will clump up if they sit for too long.
Want to get creative with your flavors? Use this double chocolate peppermint cookies recipe as a base and stir in new fillings like chopped toffee pieces, toasted chopped nuts, or even chopped up pretzels. Of course different types of chips like white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, peppermint chips, or butterscotch chips are also fun. A little bit of espresso powder can up the chocolate flavor as well.
Donate to Cookies 4 Kids Cancer
This recipe is part of The Sweetest Season, an annual virtual cookie swap co-hosted by Erin of The Speckled Palate and Susannah of Feast + West.
This year we are raising money for Cookies 4 Kids' Cancer, which is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer.
Since 2008, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has granted nearly $18 million to pediatric cancer research in the form of 100+ research grants to leading pediatric cancer centers across the country. From these grants have stemmed 35+ treatments available to kids battling cancer today.
Help us raise money for this important cause! Donate through the C4KC fundraising page.
Other Delicious Cookie Recipes
This is one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. If you love chocolate as much as I do, you'll want to try these Black Cocoa Cookies as well. And these 4 recipes are often on repeat at my house, especially during the holiday season!
If you try this Chocolate Peppermint Cookies recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 5 candy canes
Instructions
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Heat butter in a large bowl in the microwave for 75 seconds at 50% power until butter is very soft but not totally melted.
- Whisk in granulated and brown sugars.
- Whisk in eggs, one at a time.
- Now whisk in the cocoa powder.
- Then whisk in vanilla extract and peppermint extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Stir dry ingredients into the wet mixture with a sturdy wooden spoon.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Chill batter for at least 20-30 minutes.
- While batter is chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Unwrap the candy canes and add to a ziplock bag. Then use a mallet to crush them up.
- Use a slightly overfilled 1 ½-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out cookie dough, then roll into balls with your hands.
- Arrange on the parchment-lined baking sheet, then press down slightly and sprinkle with the crushed candy canes.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes, until cookies look firm and no longer glossy on top.
- Remove baking sheet from oven, and bang it on the counter 2-3 times.
- Let cookies sit for 2 minutes, then remove and let cool on a rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this peppermint chocolate chip cookie recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Erin says
Molly, these Chocolate Peppermint Cookies look like pure holiday joy. The rich cocoa base, melty chocolate chips, and that peppermint crunch create such a perfect festive bite, and I can see why they would be on repeat all season long. Such a gorgeous holiday cookie!
Thank you so much for participating in this year's Sweetest Season and bringing another delicious cookie recipe to the virtual celebration. I am so appreciative for you and everyone who joins me in this yearly and am always blown away with the generosity. I hope you and yours have the happiest holiday season!
Molly Pisula says
Thank you, Erin. So glad to participate this year!