Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
These award-winning Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are a holiday favorite that have stood the test of time! I received this recipe nearly 20 years ago from my friend Jenny Vogt, and it’s been a hit ever since—even earning me first and third place in Christmas cookie contests. With their festive flavors of rich chocolate, cool peppermint, and a touch of holiday sparkle, they’re sure to become a family tradition for you too!
Recipe Steps
I’ve always considered myself more of a cook than a baker, so when I first enjoyed these delicious chocolate peppermint cookies my friend Jenny made, I didn’t think I could pull them off. Jenny is such a talented baker, and her cookies looked fancy and complicated to me with all the steps involved. But as it turns out, they’re actually quite simple to make!
Back in 2016, the church we were attending hosted a Christmas cookie contest across all its campuses. Each campus selected a winner, and those winners then competed against one another for the final prize. The day before the contest, I happened to be baking with my sister and had already made these chocolate peppermint cookies, so I entered on a whim. To my surprise, my cookies took first place at our campus!
I assumed they’d take the extra cookies I’d plated to the main church campus for the final round of voting. The joke was on me when I found out I needed to bake a fresh batch to compete again the following Sunday. The competition was tough, and I was thrilled to take home third place in the finals!
While a stand mixer makes the process easier, I’ve successfully made these cookies by hand back when I didn’t own one. To ensure uniform cookies, I use a large Pampered Chef melon baller (approximately 3 tablespoons) to scoop the dough. With this method, a single batch yields about 16-17 cookies—perfect for sharing or gifting during the holiday season!
Once the cookies have cooled, you can spread the frosting on with a knife, but I prefer piping it for a cleaner look. While I own a piping bag, I find storage bags to be much easier—just snip a small corner off and pipe away! I use the same method for the chocolate drizzle.
Although the original recipe calls for butter and corn syrup in the chocolate, I simplify it by melting semisweet chocolate chips with a drizzle of grapeseed oil in a glass measuring cup. I microwave it for 40 seconds, give it a stir, then heat it for another 15 seconds. The warmth of the glass dish helps melt the chocolate fully without overheating it. Be careful—chocolate burns easily and turns dry and clumpy when overheated!
Pro Tip: Crushed candy canes can start to soften after a couple of days, even when stored in an airtight container. To make these cookies ahead of time, bake them and store in an airtight container. On the day before or the day of your event, complete steps 6–11 to frost the cookies, drizzle with chocolate, and top with fresh crushed candy canes.
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Standmixer or mix by hand
- 2 cookie sheets
- 1 glass
- 2 Quart-size storage bags
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 1 C sugar
- ½ C butter (1 stick) softened
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 egg
- 2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate melted & cooled
- 1 C flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. sugar for pressing down cookies
Peppermint Frosting
- 2½ C powdered sugar
- ¼ C butter (½ stick) softened
- 3-4 Tbsp. milk
- ½ tsp. peppermint extract
Chocolate Topping
- ¼ C butter
- 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
- 1 C semisweet chocolate morsels
Garnish
- 3-4 crushed candy canes
Instructions
Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl or using a stand mixer, beat 1 cup sugar, ½ cup butter, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 egg, and 2 oz. of melted and cooled unsweetened chocolate until well combined.
- Stir in 1 cup of flour and ½ tsp. salt until a dough forms.
- Scoop large balls of cookie dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart.
- Dampen the bottom of a glass, dip it in 2 Tbsp. sugar, and press down on a cookie dough ball until it’s ¼-inch thick. Repeat for each cookie, re-dipping the glass in sugar before flattening the next ball.
- Bake the cookies at 375°F for 8 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies bake, prepare the peppermint frosting: Using a stand mixer, beat 2 ½ cups powdered sugar, ¼ cup butter, 3 Tbsp. milk, and ½ tsp. peppermint extract until smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add additional milk 1 tsp. at a time until it reaches piping consistency.
- Crush candy canes in a food processor or with a rolling pin until finely crumbled.
- Once the cookies are cool, transfer the frosting to a quart-sized storage bag. Seal the bag, remove any air, and snip a small corner off the bag. Pipe a swirl of frosting onto each cookie.
- Prepare the chocolate drizzle: In a microwave-safe bowl, combine ¼ cup butter, 2 Tbsp. corn syrup, and 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips. Heat in 10-15 second intervals, stirring between each, until smooth. Alternatively, melt the mixture in a double boiler. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly before using.
- Transfer the melted chocolate to a second quart-sized storage bag. Snip off a small corner and drizzle the chocolate over the frosted cookies.
- While the chocolate drizzle is still wet, sprinkle crushed candy canes on top of each cookie so they stick.
Victoria Cook
Victoria is a passionate home cook who became the host and chef of over 100 episodes of a private cooking show tailored for wellness practitioners and their patients. With a love for ethnic cuisines, she enjoys using a variety of spices and fresh ingredients to create flavorful, healthy meals for her husband and son. Always up for a culinary challenge, Victoria finds joy in experimenting with new recipes—and if she can whip them up in an electric pressure cooker, she’s even happier.