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Rich, chewy chocolate sugar cookies topped with a swirl of peppermint buttercream are an absolute dream! Make these chocolate peppermint cookies for your next holiday party or winter potluck and you are sure to be a hit!

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Soft Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I absolutely fell in love with the Clareos from The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book and knew I needed to find more uses for the incredible cookie. The chocolate cookies are so rich, fudgy, and soft, yet don’t spread much in the oven. Almost like brownies and sugar cookies had a little love child.

Having the intensely chocolate base is the perfect partner for the creamy peppermint buttercream. The minty freshness of that frosting cuts through the chocolate intensity of the cookie.

Top Tips for Cut Out Cookies

Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help everything blend nicely and give your cookies a nice texture.
Scrape down your bowl often. Butter and sugar can hide out at the bottom of your bowl. Make sure everything gets blended!
Do NOT over mix. Once you add the dry ingredients, keep the speed on stir and only mix to combine.
Use a rolling pin with measurement guides to get an even thickness.
Cold dough won’t spread as much in the oven.
Bake a test cookie before baking the rest of the batch to determine the best bake time.

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Size Matters

I used this guided rolling pin to roll my cookie dough out to ¼”. When I had done that in the past, the cookies seemed fairly thick, but once I put everything on top, they felt less sturdy. That being said, everything worked out well and I found the proportions to be just fine.

For a thicker cookie, use the ⅜” guides. You’ll end up with fewer cookies and you may need to add a minute or two to the bake time. To know when the cookies are done baking, watch until the tops no longer look wet. Then immediately pull them out. I’ve never baked them this thick though, so it’s at your own risk.

Rolling Tips

When rolling out your cookie dough, parchment paper is your best friend! I always roll my dough out between two sheets to minimize mess. Just make sure to place the rolled out dough back in the fridge to firm up before you cut out your cookies.

Take the parchment paper wrapped cookie dough out of the fridge after a few minutes. Peel off one piece of the paper and place the sheet back on the dough. Flip the dough disc and remove the other parchment sheet. Now you can cut your cookies and they won’t stick to the parchment on the bottom.

Related Reading: Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti

Peppermint Patty

My first thought when I bit into these chocolate peppermint cookies was Peppermint Patty. Obviously, they’re not the same, but they’re also kinda similar. There’s the obvious chocolate peppermint pairing here, but also the chocolate cookie somehow has a similar texture to the classic patty. I don’t know, maybe I’m just a tad delusional on this one.

Crazily enough, I only used ¼ teaspoon of peppermint oil in the buttercream! But peppermint oil is much more intense than a typical extract. Since peppermint can become too much awfully quick, I suggest adding your peppermint flavoring ¼ teaspoon at a time until you have the intensity that you want.

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Buttercream Storage

Don’t freak out, but I actually kept this buttercream in the freezer for THREE months before I used it. We had to cancel our plans to attend a friend’s Christmas party last December because Ben got sick. March comes around and my freezer is overflowing with random bags of buttercream, so I had to use this up before it tasted weird. (Yes, I made these in March lol)

And it did not taste weird at all! No freezer burn and no off flavor. All I did was place my peppermint buttercream in a gallon freezer bag, squeezed out all the air, then stuck it in my freezer. Three months later, it tasted just like the day I made it.

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Buttercream Decor

Besides the fact that these chocolate peppermint cookies taste absolutely fan-freakin-tastic, I am also so, so proud of the designs I piped with buttercream. I’ve been a member of The Piped Peony Academy for several years now and love all of Dara’s tutorials, even if I don’t find many opportunities to pipe buttercream flowers.

You should absolutely check out The Piped Peony Academy if you are serious about learning how to pipe realistic buttercream flowers and greenery. While I can’t share a tutorial on how to pipe these holly bunches and pine branches, I can tell you which tips I used!

Buttercream Swirl – 1M

Leaves – 124k

Holly Berries – 7 (round), Ateco 00

Pine Branches – 16 (star), Ateco 00

Enjoy!

Chocolate peppermint cookies deliver rich chocolate flavor and fresh minty goodness in each bite! Decorate the chocolate sugar cookies with a swirl of peppermint buttercream and pretty buttercream decorations.

If you’re a little busy this holiday season, send this recipe to a friend who might be able to make them for you 😉

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Soft, fudgy chocolate cookies topped with a swirl of peppermint buttercream taste like a peppermint patty in cookie form!

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Chocolate, Frosting, Holiday, Peppermint

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Chill Time 2

Total Time 3

Servings 12 cookies

Calories 449kcal

Author Colleen

Ingredients

Chocolate Cookies

5.75 oz all purpose flour
2 tsps instant espresso powder
¼ tsp salt
6 oz unsalted butter room temperature
5.5 oz sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2.5 oz unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Peppermint Buttercream

8 oz unsalted butter softened
15 oz powdered sugar sifted
¼ tsp peppermint oil
2 Tbsp heavy cream

Instructions

Chocolate Cookies

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, espresso, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and beat until creamy, about 1 minute on a medium- high speed. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 more minutes. Scrape the bowl down once or twice during this process.
Scrape the bowl down and add the vanilla. Beat until combined. Add the egg and beat until thoroughly combined. With the speed on low, add the flour mixture in three parts, mixing until just combined after each.
Turn the dough out onto a large piece of cling wrap. Wrap well and form into a disk. Refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325℉ and line the baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using a 2.5 inch round cookie cutter, cut as many circles as possible and place 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining dough, gathering up the scraps, re-rolling, and cutting until all the dough is used.
Bake the cookies until they no longer look wet and are soft to the touch, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Peppermint Buttercream

Beat the butter on a medium speed for 8- 10 minutes. Scrape the bowl down once or twice during this step.
Add the powdered sugar in 3- 4 additions. After each addition, beat until well combined, about 1- 2 minutes.
Beat in the peppermint oil. Add the heavy cream one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each one. Taste the frosting and adjust the flavor and consistency as needed.

Assemble

Pipe a spiral of frosting onto a cookie using a 1M tip. Decorate with sprinkles or piped buttercream holly and pine branches.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies