These fudgy and rich Chocolate Peppermint Cookies make the perfect seasonal treat. They’re loaded with chopped peppermint bark, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. For these cookies, we’re using a boxed brownie mix to keep the process as easy as possible during the busy holiday season.
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
These Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are a holiday lifesaver. They are incredibly easy to make without compromising on flavor.
What contributes to the simplicity of these cookies? The secret is brownie mix! Using brownie mix as a base gives these cookies a genuine brownie taste. They boast a soft and chewy texture, slight crispness at the edges, and a deep chocolate flavor.
In addition to the brownie mix, pudding mix is also incorporated, leading to a softer, chewier center and an intensified chocolate taste. To elevate the indulgence, these cookies are packed with chopped peppermint bark, milk chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips. Indeed, these are the essential holiday cookies for this year!
Ingredients In Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Cream Cheese: Adds creaminess and moisture, contributing to a soft texture.
- Butter: Provides richness and tenderness, aiding in the spread of the cookies during baking.
- Egg: Acts as a binder, maintaining structure and cohesiveness.
- Vanilla and Peppermint Extracts: Enhance flavor, with vanilla offering sweetness and peppermint adding a minty note.
- Chocolate Instant Pudding and Pie Filling Mix: Increases chocolate flavor and contributes to a moist, chewy texture.
- Fudge Brownie Mix: Forms the base of the cookies, providing structure and a deep chocolate taste.
- Peppermint Bark: Adds crunchy texture and a distinct peppermint-chocolate flavor.
- Milk Chocolate Chips: Introduce extra chocolate flavor and a melty texture.
- White Chocolate Chips (Optional): Offer a creamy, sweet contrast.
Quick Tip
Ensure you use peppermint extract instead of mint extract to avoid a toothpaste-like flavor in the chocolate peppermint cookies. The potency of peppermint extract varies by brand, so taste and adjust according to your preference, adding more for a stronger peppermint taste.
How To Make Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Soften cream cheese and butter to room temperature.
- Cream Ingredients: In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese and butter. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and peppermint extract until smooth.
- Dry Ingredients: Add chocolate pudding and brownie mixes, blending until the dough becomes thick.
- Add-ins: Fold in chopped peppermint bark, milk chocolate chips, and optional white chocolate chips.
- Form Cookies: Shape dough into 2-tablespoon balls, slightly flatten, and place on baking sheet.
- Bake: Bake chocolate peppermint cookies for 10-14 minutes, until slightly underdone for a fudgy texture.
Tips For Success
- Electric Mixer: Use an electric mixer, either hand or stand, as the dough is very thick and difficult to mix manually.
- Chilling Dough: If the dough is too sticky, refrigerate it for 10 minutes to make it easier to handle. Here’s how refrigerating helps.
- Shape Dough: Form the dough into wide, flat discs instead of balls, as these cookies don’t spread much while baking.
- Lined Baking Tray: Bake the cookies on a silicone liner to prevent the bottoms from browning or crisping too quickly.
More Delicious Christmas Treats
- Peppermint Sugar Cookies
- Christmas Treats
- Peppermint Bark Muddy Buddies
- Christmas Snack Mix
- 6 Easy Christmas Gifts
Peppermint Bark Cookies
Equipment
- Sheet pan lined
- stand mixer
Ingredients
- 4 ounces cream cheese full-fat, room temperature
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract optional
- 1 (3.9-ounce) package chocolate instant pudding mix
- 1 (18-ounce) package fudge brownie mix
- 3/4 cup coarsely chopped peppermint bark
- 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup white chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside. To bring the cream cheese and butter to room temperature, you can leave them out for 1 hour or microwave the unwrapped cream cheese in 5–10 second increments until soft. For the butter, microwave it for 5 seconds, flip it, and then microwave for another 5 seconds. Be careful not to melt or overly soften either ingredient.
- In a large bowl fitted to a stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and butter until completely smooth. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and optional peppermint extract. Beat until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the dry pudding mix and brownie mix. Beat to combine. The dough will be extremely thick, just keep mixing and it will all come together.
- Coarsely chop the peppermint bark candy. Stir in the chopped peppermint bark, chocolate chips, and optional white chocolate chips.
- Measure each cookie dough ball to be a full, packed 2 tablespoons of dough. Knead the dough ball to get the chocolate chips to stick and then roll it into a ball. Slightly flatten balls to about 1/2-inch thick. You should get about 28 cookies from this batter. Place 6–8 cookies on the prepared cookie sheet, giving cookies ample room to spread.
- Bake each batch for 10–14 minutes. Remove from the oven. Sometimes the edges have a tendency to leak out; simply use the back of a spoon or metal spatula to press the edges in towards the center of the cookie right out of the oven. If desired, add some additional chocolate chips or chopped peppermint bark on top of the cookies. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How many cookies does this make? Says 30 servings, does this mean 30 cookies?
I made these using Peppermint Andes (that was all I could find) and they were delicious. Slightly undercooking is the way to go. Will definitely make again next year. My only comment is about the prep and cooking time listed at the top of the recipe: It took much less than 1hr 20 prep time, and more than 8 min cook time. For me prep was more like 25 min and I baked each about 13 as suggested in the instructions.
I’m so happy you liked these! I’m not sure why the prep and cooking time was listed so weird; I changed to a new platform that hosts my recipes and it did mess up a few of the prep times on some recipes. Thanks for pointing that out for me to fix it!
Would it be ok to use the Ghirardelli Peppermint Chunks (they are like chips) instead of the peppermint bark?
Sure! 🙂
These are sooooo AMAZING! I made them for Christmas and New Years, and everyone loved them! AND they are easy to whip up. They are delicious warm and second day, I can’t imagine they’ll last any longer than day 2. Thanks so much for sharing this, it will be a go to recipe for a long time to come!! I just wish Ghirardelli peppermint bark was not limited to Christmas time…
Awe thank you so much Kate! I’m so happy these were a hit 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to comment. And I know!! I wish they sold it year round!
Do I prepare the brownie mix or mix it in dry?
Don’t prepare the brownie mix, use it as part of the recipe (with the cream cheese, eggs, and other listed ingredients)
I found this while searching for holiday cookies, these look wonderful, and a nice change to the usual sugar cookies this time of year, thank you for sharing this!
Thanks Sabrina! 🙂 I hope you love them!
These look delicious! Do you think they will work as a bar cookie instead? I need as many shortcuts as I can find this year!
Thanks Denise! 🙂 Unfortunately I think they might get too hard as a bar — I would stick with cookies!
These look delicious! But I’m confused about amounts. Only 1 oz each of the instant pudding mix, brownie mix, and peppermint bar??
No, sorry!! The way my recipes are displayed just changed, and there are a lot of fixes needed. This recipe is now updated! 🙂
I love recipes that are actually easy but turn out to be so tasty and fancy that I look like a chef! These cookies absolutely fit the bill so as soon as I can get a brownie mix, they’re on! Thanks.
Thanks for your kind words Lisa!! I hope you love them ☺️
THESE. I’ve been craving all things peppermint bark and I can not wait to make these!!!
Haha! Thank you Haley 🙂
Ah these sound so yummy! And perfect for Christmas festivities. Cant wait to try them!
Thank you Kelsey! Hope you enjoy 🙂