Four-ingredient Peppermint Cookies are the ultimate holiday treat! They look fancy but are super easy to make. Perfect for cookie platters or gifting!
Want homemade Peppermint Cookies? Try these soft, frosted Peppermint Sugar Cookies or this chocolate Peppermint Cookies Recipe.
Easy Peppermint Cookies
I love baking from scratch—it’s one of my favorite things! But during the busy holidays, I sure appreciate a good shortcut, and I know many of you feel the same. These Peppermint Cookies are just that kind of shortcut.
They’re beautifully festive, taste amazing, and take a fraction of the time it would to bake cookies from scratch—especially compared to those fancy cut out sugar cookies!
Peppermint Cookie Recipe Ingredients
- Mint/grasshopper cookies. Pick up a package of fudge mint or grasshopper cookies. If you’d rather make your own grasshopper cookie, try this Thin Mint Cookie recipe from my friend Sally!
- White chocolate. We recommend chocolate specifically made for melting, like good-quality baking bars (such as Bakers®, Lindt®, or Ghirardelli®) or good-quality melting wafers (such as Ghirardelli) for best results. Both bars and melts are found in the baking aisle of the store–we like using melts best for ease. Avoid chocolate chips–see “quick tip” below.
- Coconut oil. I like to add a touch of oil or shortening to the chocolate. It helps to smooth out the mixture and makes coating the cookies in chocolate easier. If you find the chocolate is too thick and won’t coat the cookies smoothly, add a touch more oil.
- Candy canes or peppermint bark. We like topping the dipped cookies with a sprinkle of crushed candy canes or finely chopped Peppermint Bark Chocolates (or homemade Peppermint Bark). This is optional, but fun, and adds flavor and texture while also making the cookies look even fancier!
Quick Tip
Why can’t I use chocolate chips? Chocolate chips/baking morsels have stabilizers that keep them from melting as nicely (which is good when you want them to retain their shapes for cookies!).
How To Crush Peppermint
Before coating the cookies in white chocolate, crush the peppermint so it’s ready to go!
Both candy canes and hard peppermint candies work. For these cookies, we want coarse, not fine crumbs. The best way we’ve found to do this is to add the unwrapped candies to a large plastic bag (or two; the peppermint has a tendency to rip through plastic bags as it is crushed), seal the bag without air in it, and then crush with a rolling pin or meat mallet until coarse crumbs are formed. Using a blender or food processor can leave you with candy dust, and that’s not what we’re after here.
How To Make Peppermint Cookies
- Start by freezing the mint cookies. Mint cookies are coated in a thin chocolate coating, so if they’re warm, that chocolate coating will melt off when it comes in contact with the melted white chocolate.
- Microwave the chocolate in sturdy, heat–safebowls instead of using plastic or melamine.
- To avoid scorching the chocolate, microwave for 15 seconds at a time, and stir for at least 15 seconds between each microwave burst. Remember, the chocolate is still melting from residual heat even after it has been removed from the microwave.
- It’s important the chocolate never gets too hot! We want it nice and melted, but as close to room temperature as possible. (Again, we don’t want to melt the chocolate off the mint cookies.)
- Coat cookies in melted chocolate and garnish (if desired)! I like to spoon the melted chocolate over the cookie which keeps that chocolate layer from melting off into our pretty white chocolate!
Storage
Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Storage
These cookies are best eaten within a week. Store in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dark place at room temperature. They don’t need to be refrigerated, but are tasty that way too!
More Holiday Cookies
- Melted Snowman Cookies with peanut butter cookie base and Reese’s cups
- Rocky Road Cookies with marshmallows, chocolate chips, and peanuts
- Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe with a simple icing
- Christmas Crack with M&M’s
- Mexican Wedding Cookies buttery cookies dipped in powdered sugar
Peppermint Cookies
Equipment
- large sheet pan,
- Parchment paper or aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 1 (10-ounce) package grasshopper (mint) cookies 40 cookies, see note 1
- 1 (10-ounce) package white chocolate melting wafers 2 cups, see note 2
- 1-1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil or coconut oil or shortening
- 3 full-sized candy canes or peppermint bark, see note 3
Instructions
- Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper (or foil). Place the mint cookies in the freezer for at least 30 minutes (the longer they spend in the freezer, the better).
- Add unwrapped candy canes to a large plastic bag (or 2; the peppermint has a tendency to rip through plastic bags as it is crushed). Seal the bag without air, then crush with a rolling pin or meat mallet until coarse crumbs are formed. Set aside.
- Combine white chocolate melts and oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in bursts until fully melted. Let cool a bit so it’s warm but not hot. (If the chocolate is too hot, it will melt the chocolate on the mint cookies).
- Working with a few cookies at a time (leaving the rest in the freezer), coat in chocolate: I dip a fork in the chocolate and place a cookie on top of the dipped fork. With my other hand and a spoon, I spoon the melted chocolate over the fork. I tap the fork a few times to get the chocolate smooth and drag the fork across the edge of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. I use a knife to push the cookie off of the fork and back onto the lined sheet pan. Work quickly so the chocolate on the cookie doesn’t have a chance to melt into the white chocolate. (See note 4 for troubleshooting.)
- Working quickly, before the white chocolate has a chance to harden, sprinkle crushed peppermint on top of the cookies (add to preference). Repeat the process of coating 1 cookie at a time in chocolate and topping that cookie with crushed candy canes until all cookies have been decorated. Allow dipped cookies to harden at room temperature (not in the fridge/freezer).
Video
Recipe Notes
- If chocolate is too thick and not coating cookies well, add 1/2 teaspoon additional coconut oil.
- If chocolate begins to harden while dipping, reheat the melted chocolate in the microwave for another 15 seconds. (Depending on how quickly you work or how fast the chocolate is hardening, you might have to remelt the chocolate a few times.)
- If the chocolate coating on the mint cookies is melting into the white chocolate, freeze the cookies for longer or let the white chocolate cool a bit.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
