Every December the same thing happens in my kitchen: the cookie tin is empty, the clock says eight at night, and there is no room in the refrigerator for a tray of dough. These double chocolate peppermint cookies are the fix. One bowl of dry ingredients, one bowl of butter and sugar, no chilling, and about 30 minutes from the first scoop of flour to the last cookie cooling on the rack. Deep cocoa, melted chocolate chips and a bright crunch of candy cane, all in one small round cookie.
Why These Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies Work
Chocolate shows up twice here, and that is the point. Unsweetened cocoa powder gives the cookies their deep, almost brownie-dark color, while semisweet chips melt into soft pockets inside. A generous share of brown sugar keeps the centers tender instead of snappy, and just a quarter cup of granulated sugar lets the edges set with a little crispness around the soft middle.
These cookies also skip the usual holiday queue at the refrigerator. The butter is soft but not melted, and the cocoa takes up enough of the moisture that the dough scoops and holds its shape right away. So there is no chilling and no waiting, just a tray of dough that goes straight from the bowl to the baking sheet.
Cocoa, Brown Sugar and Candy Canes: What You Need
Everything on this list is a pantry regular. All-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, unsalted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, semisweet chocolate chips and crushed candy canes. The only item you might need to buy is the candy canes, and about four of them crush down to the one third cup the recipe calls for.
A few swaps work well if your kitchen has different things in it:
- Dutch process cocoa in place of natural cocoa gives a darker, smoother cookie, and the first tray may spread a little more, so keep an eye on it.
- Salted butter works fine; just cut the added salt down to a small pinch.
- Chopped semisweet chocolate instead of chips gives bigger, more uneven puddles of melted chocolate.
- Crushed peppermint candies or starlight mints stand in for candy canes at the same one third cup.
Tips for Chewy Peppermint Cookies
The method is short, but a few small habits make the difference between a good cookie and a great one.
- Spoon the flour into the cup and level it with a knife instead of packing it down, so the dough stays soft.
- Beat the butter and sugars for about two minutes, until light, then stop. Longer beating adds air the cookies do not need.
- Mix the dry ingredients in on low just until the last dry streak disappears.
- Hold back a spoonful of the crushed candy canes and press it onto the tops, since the pieces stirred into the dough soften as they bake.
- Pull the tray at 10 to 12 minutes. The edges should be set and the centers should still look a little underdone.
- Let the cookies rest on the hot sheet for five minutes before moving them; they firm up quickly as they cool.
Storing and Serving Your Peppermint Cookies
Once the cookies are fully cool, layer them in an airtight container with a sheet of parchment between the rows and keep them at room temperature for a few days. For longer storage, freeze the baked cookies in a sealed bag and let them thaw on the counter, or freeze scooped dough balls and bake them straight from the freezer, adding a minute or two to the timer.
They are best with cold milk or hot coffee, and they look right at home on a holiday platter next to sugar cookies and gingerbread. Two of them make a fine ice cream sandwich, and a crumbled cookie over vanilla ice cream is a quick dessert when friends show up.
Here is the full recipe, ready to save or print.
Peppermint Cookies Recipe: 30-Minute Chocolate Holiday Treat
Ingredients
Method
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
- Beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix on low just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of the crushed candy canes.
- Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared sheets. Press the remaining crushed candy canes onto the tops.
- Bake 10-12 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers still look slightly underdone.
- Cool on the sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Holiday baking does not have to eat an entire afternoon. A single bowl of dough, a hot oven and a handful of crushed candy canes are enough to fill the tin, and the peppermint smell that fills the kitchen while they bake is a small gift of its own.
