What are peppermint bark cookies? Coated in peppermint white chocolate, these soft chocolate sugar cookies are a beautifully festive and equally irresistible Christmas cookie. Like traditional peppermint bark but in delicious cookie form!
Welcome to my annual Sally’s Cookie Palooza! It’s time to tuck away the pie crust and Thanksgiving pie recipes and turn to all things cookies.
What is Sally’s Cookie Palooza?
A tradition since 2013, every December we countdown to Christmas with 10 new cookie recipes in a row. This is the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Sign up for instant updates and you’ll receive a free email alert whenever I publish a new recipe. 🙂
We’re kicking off this year with Peppermint Bark Cookies.
Peppermint bark cookies will be the most festive cookies on your Christmas cookie trays. Need an impressive cookie recipe for a work party, bake sale, holiday event, or Christmas cookie exchange? Bake these. Every single taste tester (there were 10 of us!!!!) went absolutely BANANAS for these.
How to Make Peppermint Bark Cookies
There are 3 parts to today’s cookie.
- Super soft chocolate sugar cookies
- White chocolate flavored with peppermint extract
- Crushed candy canes
My chocolate sugar cookies are just like my vanilla sugar cookies. This is a roll-out chocolate cookie flavored with cocoa powder. The chocolate sugar cookie dough is very easy to work with and requires at least 1 hour of chilling in the refrigerator—2 hours is even better. It’s the same dough we use when making these Halloween cookies, too. If you really want to get ahead, you can chill the cookie dough for up to 2 days. You’ll notice in my sugar cookie recipes that I roll the cookie dough out before chilling. Over the past several years, I learned that this method is much easier than chilling the cookie dough in a ball and then trying to roll out a cold chunk of dough. Dividing the dough in half before rolling makes the process easier because smaller sections are more manageable to roll out.
Helpful tip: Flour is helpful when rolling out cookie dough. It helps prevent the dough from sticking to the surface and rolling pin. But since we are making chocolate sugar cookies, use cocoa powder instead of flour for extra chocolate flavor.
Roll Out on a Non-Stick Surface
Roll the dough out right on your silicone baking mats or parchment paper! Why? Think about it. You have to chill the rolled out dough in the fridge… and you can’t really pick up a mass of dough you rolled out on the counter, right? Nor can you cut into shapes when the dough is this warm. Roll the dough out on a nonstick surface that you can literally pick up, put on a baking sheet, and place in the fridge.
I shape peppermint bark cookies into circles, but you can use any cookie cutter shape. To ensure the cookies don’t break apart, I recommend a cookie cutter that is 3 inches or smaller. I use my 2.5 inch circle cookie cutter from this handy set.
The pictured cookies are about the size of Oreo cookies.
Let’s decorate!
Peppermint White Chocolate
Once the chocolate sugar cookies are cool, dunk them in pure white chocolate. Flavor the white chocolate with some peppermint extract and thin it out with a little oil. The thinner the chocolate, the easier coating the cookies will be.
Use white chocolate baking bars, such as Bakers or Ghirardelli brands, found in the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips. They’re usually on sale this time of year! Don’t use white chocolate chips. Chocolate chips contain stabilizers and are processed so that they DO NOT melt in the oven. Dunking cookies in melted white chocolate chips is impossible. Save them for a batch of peppermint white chocolate cookies instead!
Dipping
Use Candy Dipping Tools to make the job easier—the 2 or 3 pronged tool are best for dipping cookies. The spiral dipping tool is what I use for neatly dipping chocolate truffles and most candy recipes. A fork works too, but the inexpensive dipping tools make the white chocolate coating very clean and neat.
Sprinkle the wet white chocolate with crushed candy canes, then let the chocolate set before stacking, gifting, or eating. These cookies are so SOFT and so THICK!!
You might also like: Peppermint Mocha Cookies, Peppermint Snowball Cookies, Peppermint Frosted Chocolate Cookies, and Peppermint Bark Fudge
Print
Peppermint Bark Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 3 dozen cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Simple and soft chocolate sugar cookies are coated in peppermint white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes to make a beautifully festive Christmas cookie!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 3/4 cup (62g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (or dutch process), plus more for rolling
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Coating
- 4 4-ounce (450g or 16 ounces total) white chocolate baking bars, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, solid coconut oil, or canola oil
- 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 cup crushed candy canes (about 5 candy canes)
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract on high speed. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. On low speed, slowly mix into the wet ingredients until combined.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Dust your rolling pin, cookie dough, and work surface with cocoa powder. Roll each portion out to about 1/4″ thickness on a piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Stack the pieces (with parchment paper between) onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Chilling is mandatory so the cookies hold their shape. If chilling for more than a couple hours, cover the top dough piece with a single piece of parchment paper. You can chill up to 2 days.
- Once chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Remove one of the dough pieces from the refrigerator and using a 2.5-inch circle cookie cutter, cut in shapes. Transfer the cut cookie dough to the prepared baking sheets. Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until all is used.
- Bake for 10 minutes. The cookies will still appear soft in the centers. Cool cookies on a baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before coating.
- For the coating:Â Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Melt the chopped white chocolate and oil together in a double boiler or in the microwave in 15-second increments, stopping and stirring after each until completely smooth. Add another drop of oil to thin out if needed. After melting, stir in 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract. Taste. Add 1/4 teaspoon more if desired. (I suggest using 3/4 teaspoon because when the white chocolate sets, the peppermint flavor won’t be as strong.) Drop 1 cookie into white chocolate. Using a 2- or 3-pronged candy dipping tool, flip the cookie over to coat all sides. Lift the cookie up out of the chocolate and gently tap the dipping tool against the side of the bowl so excess white chocolate drips off. Slide coated cookie off the dipping tool onto prepared lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Repeat with remaining cookies.
- Allow chocolate to set completely in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or at room temperature for 90 minutes.
- Coated cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions:Â Dipped or un-dipped cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. You can chill the rolled-out cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days (step 3). You can also freeze the cookie dough (before dividing and rolling out in step 3) for up to 3 months. Then allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before rolling out. Chill for only 30 minutes in step 3 as opposed to 1 full hour.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Rolling Pin | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | 2.5-inch Circle Cookie Cutter | Cooling Rack | Double Boiler or 2-cup Liquid Measuring Cup | Candy Dipping Tool
- Cocoa Powder: You can actually use either unsweetened dutch-process or natural cocoa powder in this cookie recipe. Read the difference between dutch-process and natural cocoa powder.
- White Chocolate: Use 4-ounce white chocolate baking bars, such as Bakers or Ghirardelli brands, found in the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips. Don’t use white chocolate chips. Chocolate chips contain stabilizers and are processed so that they DO NOT melt in the oven. Dunking cookies in melted white chocolate chips is impossible. Why oil? The oil helps thin out the chocolate.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Oh my!!! These are so delicious and one batch makes a lot of cookies. This is a new Christmas cookie and will be baked at Christmas and likely a few more times a year. Plus they turn out beautiful and make it look like they took forever to make but they don’t!
MAKE THESE! These are my number one absolute favorite cookie recipe. They take a little extra time to do all that dipping but oh boy, are they worth it! Taste like they came from the store and got so many compliments from our parties. Absolute 10/10. And they came out exactly like the photos.
Can I use candy melts or white chocolate chips instead?
Hi Esther, we prefer using pure white chocolate, such as Ghirardelli or Bakers brand baking bars.
Would these hold up in the mail?
Hi Rebecca! These wouldn’t be the best cookies to ship, just because if they get warm, the chocolate will melt – here’s our tips for shipping cookies.
I went to the grocery store before reading the comments, and was concerned by how many people ran out of white chocolate when dipping… but having already dropped $14 on Ghiradelli bars I was not going back. Happy to report that I made AND dipped 38 cookies successfully with the allotted four bars! I plopped each cookie into the bowl on a meat fork (those candy dipping tools sound niiiice) and then squished melted chocolate over it with my rubber spatula. I then lifted the fork and tapped it HARD on the handle of the rubber spatula to dislodge extra white chocolate and scraped my spatula along the bottom of the meat fork to grab the extra chocolate that was dripping from the cookie. (What did NOT work for me was adding a little extra oil–1/2 tsp or so– to try and get the white chocolate thinner so that it would be runnier and easier to dip… it’s been a couple of hours now and the white chocolate coating is still a little tacky, so I think that’s my fault. Tastes great though.) Glad to have had my first melted chocolate baking experience today. I look forward to making these again next year!
I want to make these ahead and freeze until Christmas – do you think these will freeze well? Should I freeze the plain cookies now and dip in chocolate later closer to Christmas?
Hi KC, Dipped or un-dipped cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Hope they’re a hit!
These were absolutely delicious – I thought the sweetness and mint levels were perfect. I had a hard time with the white chocolate coating… I used white chocolate bars and even with additional oil the chocolate would not thin out so I ended up with an uneven, thick coating. Even though they were ugly, they were a big hit. I added some chopped chocolate bits along with the peppermint on top for some additional chocolate flavor.
I had the exact same problem with the white chocolate. They didn’t look too good, but they tasted delicious!
Could I ask what the difference is between this flavor profile in this cookie and your mocha peppermint cookie, which I just made yesterday and love, but was wondering if there was much a difference?
Hi Stephanie! They have a very similar flavor profile, just in different form. Both are favorites!
Hi Sally! I am excited to try this recipe for my Christmas cookie box! Can I substitute cacao powder for cocoa powder? Curious how that might change the results (if at all). Thanks!
Hi Sarah! You can, but cacao has a stronger, more bitter flavor. You’ll want to slightly reduce the amount. And by doing that, you may need to slightly increase the flour. Let me know what you try!
Can you roll the dough into a log and slice it after freezing? Trying to eliminate rolling process.
Hi Kathie, You can definitely make these chocolate cookies as slice-and-bake icebox cookies. Simply divide the prepared cookie dough in half. Roll into 8 inch logs like we instruct with our slice and bake cookies, wrap in plastic wrap, chill, then slice and bake according to the slice and bake cookie instructions. Bake time for these chocolate cookies may be 1 minute shorter.
I’m having trouble finding granulated sugar. Can cane sugar be substituted anywhere granulated sugar is called for? Thanks.
Hi Kim, pure cane sugar *should* work just fine in this recipe. The granules are a little larger so it’s possible there could be some grittiness, but it shouldn’t be an issue.
I’ve tried making these two years in a row now (I love peppermint bark), but I have yet to be successful :(. Last year I seized my chocolate when I added the peppermint extract, but I assumed that it was from washing the measuring spoon and accidentally mixing some water in. I decided to give up, but try again this year. However, when I added the peppermint extract this year, the same thing happened. I was using the Club House Pure Peppermint & Mint Extract. My guess is that the propylene glycol or alcohol might be causing the chocolate to seize. I’ve saved the cookies and I’m going to try pure peppermint oil, but I’m wondering how much pure peppermint oil to use. Or alternatively, if someone can recommend a fully oil based peppermint extract that won’t cause seizing. Thanks for any advice!
Hi Christina, are you adding any oil when melting the chocolate coating? Because that should help protect the chocolate from seizing. Also, try melting the white chocolate in a double boiler (or use a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water). I find that helps prevent the white chocolate from seizing. If using peppermint oil, you only need a very small splash because it’s more potent than extract.
Can I use christmas themed cookie cutters for this recipe? train, santa, reindeer, etc?
Hi Kristi, you can use any shape cookie cutters for these cookies. To ensure the cookies don’t break apart, we recommend a cookie cutter that is 3 inches or smaller.
I made these and they are both tasty and pretty. However, I had to run to the store to buy two more bars of white chocolate and just had enough (the last two were frosted rather than dipped). I had 3 dozen + 1 (so the yield as stated on the recipe) and mine look like the picture in terms of the ratio of cookie to white chocolate coating so I am not sure where I went wrong. I was worried that adding more oil to the chocolate would cause it not to set properly.
The same thing happened to me, my boyfriend is currently on his way to the store for more white chocolate and I added more oil to the chocolate than stated to thin it out.
I made a mistake on two batches of this dough. I added one extra cup of flour to each. Is there another recipe I can use the dough for or do I toss?
Hi Sally,
Could I use a 2″ cookie cutter? I would like them a little smaller if it would work?
Thanks!
Yes, that would work Joanne. Enjoy!