These soft and tender peppermint cookies are studded with white chocolate chips and crushed peppermint candy, and can be made without chilling the dough! Perfect for cookie exchanges and holiday dessert trays, they’re the ultimate holiday sweet treat.
This is one of my Cookie recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
It’s almost halfway through December , which means it’s prime baking season. With plenty of parties and gatherings, there’s plenty of opportunity to bring some amazing desserts out to share.
Have you ever had a cookie so good that after one bite you were already planning when to make the next batch? For me, that was these peppermint cookies.
They’re so soft and tender that they practically melt in your mouth, and are so full of sweet peppermint and white chocolate flavors.
Plus, there’s no need to chill the dough for these, so they’re incredibly easy to make. They’d make a great addition to your holiday cookie tray or cookie exchange!
How to make white chocolate peppermint cookies?
This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
- Stir dry ingredients. This is helpful to make sure everything blends well into the dough later.
- Cream the butter and sugars. This doesn’t actually use cream, it’s just the method for beating fat (the butter), with sugar (both kinds) until creamy and combined.
- Beat in wet ingredients. I find a hand mixer works well here, but feel free to use a stand mixer if you’d like.
- Beat in dry ingredients. Keep the mixer on low and only beat until you don’t see streaks of flour anymore.
- Stir in chocolate and peppermint. I like to do this by hand to prevent over-mixing the dough.
- Roll into balls. I like to use a cookie scoop to measure the amount of dough needed, then roll with my hands. Dip tops into peppermint.
- Bake. These cookies don’t need long to bake, and they’ll cool mostly on the baking sheet to gently finish cooking.
Helpful Tip!
Keep in mind that these cookies don’t require chilling, so they will spread some during baking. So make sure you leave some room in between each dough ball on the baking sheet. If you would rather avoid that, you can chill the dough for an hour or two, then scoop, roll, and bake as directed.
Variations of this recipe
- Chilled – this recipe, as written, doesn’t call for chilling the dough, but if you’d like to, you certainly can! This will result in a thicker and chewier cookie, and they won’t spread as much on the baking sheet.
- Peppermint extract – we love the extra peppermint flavor that the extract brings to these cookies, but feel free to omit it completely if you don’t want too much peppermint, or don’t have any extract on hand.
- Peppermint candy – feel free to use crushed up candy canes, crushed peppermint candies, or peppermint baking chips for this recipe.
- Chocolate chips – if you’re not a huge fan of white chocolate, you can use milk, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate chips instead.
- Dipped/Drizzled – for a fun presentation, try dipping half of the cookie into some melted chocolate (white, milk, semi-sweet, or dark), or drizzling some melted chocolate over the top of the cookies.
- Thicker cookie – if you’d like a thicker cookie, you can add a few Tbsp of extra flour. The dough will be more crumbly, but should still mold into a ball with your hands/cookie scoop.
FAQ’s
The butter should be softened to room temperature, but not melted or overly warm. A good trick is to gently press your finger into the stick of butter. It should indent, but not completely smush under the gentle pressure.
I needed about 12 standard sized candy canes to get the 1/2 cup of crushed peppermint for these cookies.
Making peppermint cookies ahead of time
This cookie recipe can also be made ahead of time! I don’t recommend baking them ahead of time, but the dough can be made, covered and refrigerated for a day or so.
You can also, mix up the dough ahead of time and freeze it into individual scoops.
I haven’t tested baking the cookies from frozen, so I do recommend thawing it before baking.
That way when the baking mood strikes, all you have to do it pull out the pre-made dough, thaw it in the refrigerator, and bake.
Freezing
You can also freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months.
Storage
Leftover cookies should be kept in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoyed within 5 days.
More Holiday Cookie Recipes:
Tips for Cookie Success
- Mixer – if you don’t have a stand mixer, or would rather not clean it afterwards, you can use a hand-mixer. I do recommend using a mixer of some kind to make sure the ingredients are properly mixed. You can use a sturdy whisk and your good ol’ arm muscles to mix the ingredients if that’s all you have available.
- Cookie scoop – I find using a cookie scoop (or old fashioned ice cream scoop) makes scooping the dough a breeze. This is the one I use.
- Room temperature ingredients – normally, for the best results when baking cookies, your cold ingredients (like the butter and eggs) should be at room temperature so it can easily be whipped and creamed.
- Use real butter – this isn’t the time to use shortening or margarine. Those perform differently in baking recipes, and this recipe was only tested using real butter.
- Use fresh ingredients – did you know using older baking soda/baking powder can affect the way your cookies bake? Over time, leavening agents, (which is what baking soda and powder are) can lose their efficacy, and won’t give your cookies that classic texture.
If you’re unsure if your baking soda or powder are still good, drop a pinch in some hot water. If it fizzes, it’s still good! If not, then you’re in need of some new ingredients.
My Favorite Cookie Scoop!
Cookie scoops are the most versatile kitchen tool… you can use them for cookies, meatballs, ice cream, and more! This scoop is the exact size you’ll need for these cookies!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
"Dry" ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
"Wet" ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
Add-ins
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy (divided) such as candy canes, round peppermints, or peppermint baking chips
Instructions
Prepare
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Stir together dry ingredients
- In a smaller mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine, then set aside.
"Cream" the butter and sugars
- To a large mixing bowl, add the softened butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar. Using a hand mixer, beat on LOW for about 30 seconds (or until the ingredients are starting to stick together), then increase speed to MED and beat for about 1-2 minutes, or until everything is fully combined. **This process is called creaming the fat and sugar, but there is no cream in this recipe**
Add remaining wet ingredients
- Add the egg, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract, and beat on LOW until combined.
Combine wet and dry ingredients
- To the mixing bowl with the wet ingredients, add the combined dry ingredients from the smaller bowl. Beat on LOW until things are just combined and you don't see any streaks of flour.
Stir in add-ins
- Add white chocolate chips, and half of the crushed peppermint candy, reserving the other half.
Scoop dough and bake
- Use a 1.5 Tbsp cookie scoop to scoop dough, then roll into a ball with your hands. Press the top side of each dough ball into the reserved crushed peppermint candy, then add to prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 – 3 inches of space between each cookie.
- **If you don't have a cookie scoop, roll balls of dough about 1.5 – 1.75 inches in diameter.**
- Bake in preheated oven for about 9 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are starting to turn golden brown. They'll look soft and underdone in the center, but that's okay!
- **For the best results, bake one baking sheet of cookies at a time, in the middle of the center rack of your oven.**
- Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes. The cookies may look more puffed up when you remove them from the oven, and sort of deflate as they cool.
- **Letting them sit on the baking sheet allows them to gently finish baking and will make sure they're not overcooked and crumbly.**
- After they've cooled on the baking sheet, remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
- This recipe makes about 2 dozen (24) cookies.
- If you’d like to use candy canes for this recipe, use approximately 12 regular sized candy canes.
- The easiest way to crush up peppermint candy is to use a food processor, but you can crush them however you’d like, or use peppermint baking chips.
- Since this dough doesn’t require chilling, make sure to keep your dough balls several inches apart on the baking sheet, as they will spread.
- If you’d like to avoid any spreading, feel free to chill the dough.
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
El says
These were addictive—so chewy and and flavorful! They were a big hit with my family this Christmas. Thanks for the great recipe!
Juliane says
LOVE peppermint cookies! Can’t wait to try your recipe!!
Catalina says
These cookies are flavorful and so festive. We will make them this weekend!
Allyson Zea says
This was so easy and flavorful! Thank you for the easy recipe!!
Sandra McCollum says
I would love some of these! Can’t wait to try!
Erin says
Looks amazing delicious! Can’t wait to make a batch of this!
Erik says
So yummy, love the white chocolate twist!
Beth says
These look so good! You can’t beat peppermint for a holiday treat, especially when it’s something like these cookies.