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Crisp edges + moist centers, bursting with peppermint flavor and topped with crunchy candy cane pieces. The best chocolate peppermint cookies: deep, decadently rich chocolate cookies that taste like brownies with a peppermint twist!
Easy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Cue the Christmas recipes! Anyone having a holly, jolly holiday season? This year, we started our holiday baking and goodie-making with Double Chocolate Peppermint Bark. Now, we’re continuing the yummy festive vibes with decadent and deeply chocolatey Easy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies.
Imagine rich chocolate cookies spiked with fresh peppermint goodness, and chocolate chips, then topped with beautiful, crushed candy canes. The flavor combo is one that I dream about… while wearing my reindeer and anthropomorphic Christmas tree-man pajamas! And noshing on this tasty Christmas Crack and this Christmas Salad with Pomegranate.
Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour
- Cocoa Powder
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Butter
- Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Egg
- Peppermint Extract: try this organic peppermint extract—it truly has the purest, brightest peppermint flavor
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Pure Maple Syrup
- Chocolate Chips & Crushed Peppermint Candy: Use only roughly crushed candies as tiny bits of crushed candy canes melt too easily during the last minutes of baking.
How to Make Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
The trick to making the holiday season go easy is to make recipes that are secretly easy while looking oh-so impressive. This double chocolate peppermint cookies recipe is the perfect example of that!
Firstly, preheat the oven to 350°F. Then, grab a cookie sheet and line it with lightly greased foil or use a nonstick cookie sheet like the one you see in my photos.
Now, add flour, cocoa powder, and salt to a medium mixing bowl. Whisk until well incorporated. Then, add butter, cane sugar, brown sugar, egg, peppermint, vanilla extract and maple syrup to a large bowl and whisk until well mixed.
Pour the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients bowl, then whisk to combine. Once it’s too thick to whisk, switch to folding the thick chocolate peppermint cookie dough together.
Next, fold in the chocolate chips. Voila, you’ve just made your chocolate peppermint cookie dough!
Grab a cookie scoop to scoop and drop balls of cookie dough onto the cookie sheet.
Next, mostly bake the chocolate peppermint cookies. We’ll reserve the last two minutes of baking for our final festive touch.
Carefully remove the cookie sheet out of the oven and press roughly crushed peppermint candy canes onto the tops of all chocolate peppermint cookies.
Bake Just Until Cooked, But Not Until the Candies Melt!
I recommend baking for just 2 minutes to get the candies to stick to the cookie, but not melt. Cool, then enjoy the best ever chocolate peppermint cookies!
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies FAQs
Why are the candy canes on top of my cookies all melted together? The crushed candy cane bits are too small or the cookies were baked too long. Candy tends to melt in heat. To solve this, crush larger bits of candy canes (this will take longer to melt), and/or make sure the cookies aren’t over-baking.
Why are my chocolate peppermint cookies so flat? The cookies were probably flattened a bit too much before baking. Next time, flatten the cookies less. Also, a hot kitchen can lead to the cookie dough over-softening before baking. To fix overheated raw dough, place in the freezer to chill until firm, about 10-30 minutes.
How do I store these chocolate peppermint cookies? Cool your chocolate peppermint cookies completely. Then, store cookies into an airtight container in a cool, dark environment to avoid spoiling. The same goes for my Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies, too.
Tools You Need
Pepper-Mint to Be!
It’s truly such a joy to share in these sweet moments with you and your loved ones. <3 If you make & enjoy my recipe, please leave a comment, or take a pic and share on Instagram or Facebook. It means so much to me. ‘Til our next sweet adventure…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
More Holiday Dessert Recipes
- Reindeer Chow
- Chocolate Almond Bark
- Brownie Cookies
- Gingersnaps {Thin ‘n Crispy}
- … and more festive recipes to come! ⭐️
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Ingredients
Tools Needed
- Nonstick Baking Sheet
- Cookie Scoop
- Measuring Cups
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup melted, unsalted butter
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons cane sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg of choice, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Add-ins
- 1 ¼ cups chocolate chips
Topping
- 3-5 tablespoons crushed peppermint candy, candy canes
- 2 tablespoons chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly greased foil, or use a nonstick cookie sheet. Set aside for later.
- Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt to a medium bowl. Whisk until well mixed.
- Add butter, cane sugar, brown sugar, egg, peppermint, vanilla, and maple syrup to a large bowl. Whisk until well mixed.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the large bowl. Whisk as long as you can, then switch to stirring and folding with a rubber spatula until well mixed and no flour patches remain. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Cover the bowl and chill in the freezer for 15-25 minutes, or until chilled and firm throughout. The dough is ready when it’s cold even in the center and just-slightly soft enough to scoop.
- While the dough is chilling, prepare the peppermint candy. Crush candy into medium-small pieces—not too small to avoid the candy melting in the oven. Pour crushed candy into a small, shallow rimmed bowl or plate.
- Once the dough is chilled, use a medium cookie scoop to scoop and drop balls of cookie onto the prepared baking sheet. Using a spoon, flatten cookies about halfway. Repeat for all cookies, spacing them evenly apart. Cookies will spread a bit during baking.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes. Mine took 12 minutes.
- Remove cookie sheet from oven and place on a heatproof surface. Carefully press crushed candy cane pieces and a few chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie.
- Place the cookie sheet back into the oven and bake for 2 minutes.
- Cool cookies on the sheet for about 10 minutes, then using a heatproof spatula, transfer directly onto a cooling rack. Enjoy!
- ★ Last Step: If you made this recipe, leave a comment and review. It truly helps our small business keep running and it helps readers like you!
Can these be made using gluten free flour?
Hi Carolyn! As long as it’s a 1:1 GF blend, it should be okay. Just know that every brand works differently, so it might need a little adjusting to get the best results. Hope this helps!
Made me so excited about the holidays! This is so good! Can’t wait to try this again
Woohoo! Hope your holidays are filled with all the good feels! 🙂
Looks amazingly delicious! I’d love to make a batch of this!
Or maybe a double batch? 😉 Hope you enjoy!
So chocolatey and so good!
These cookies had the perfect flavor!!! Sending to my friends too!
Woohoo! So sweet of you, Allyson! 😊
These cookies are amazing! Need to make a big batch next time!
Totally! They always disappear super fast when I make them, so a double batch is a must!
Such a classic flavor combination for the holidays!
Exactly! This time of year, I’m all bout these two flavors together. 😋
Holy holy jolly deliciousness, Batman! Those look absolutely amazing!
LOL I’m so glad you think so, Beth! 😊