These Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies are just like extra flavorful sugar cookies! They are tender and buttery, and with just a hint of peppermint. I also like to dip these peppermint cookies in a dark chocolate ganache and sprinkle with crushed candy cane for that festive feeling!
'Tis the season for all things peppermint, and that is why I have created this 16 Peppermint Recipes to Spark Your Holiday Spirits. In that list I have these cookies, along with peppermint patties, a peppermint eggnog dalgona, peppermint mocha macarons and so much more!
When it comes to Christmas, there is one question we tend to ask: are you a gingerbread person or a sugar cookie person? Well, in Norway, classic sugar cookies aren't so common, so we ask gingerbread or Christmas men cookies, which are just like super fluffy sugar cookies. I haven't decided which person I am yet, I'm just a cookie gal, you know.
From the looks of it, sugar cookies and shortbread cookies are quite similar, especially in terms of ingredients. However, there are some differences.
Shortbread cookies have a higher ratio of butter to flour. They are often baked at a lower temperature for a longer time, making them very tender and crumbly. This also means they are not great for shipping.
Sugar cookies are much more sturdy because of the higher ratio of flour, making them easier to cut into whatever shapes you want. They are still tender and buttery, but with a little more crisp.
There are mainly two reasons for chilling cookie dough. YES, I hate it too, but it is a crucial step in creating perfect cookies.
Reason #1 is that the colder the dough is when it hits the hot oven, the longer it will take for the butter to melt, and the cookies will thus hold their shapes better, i.e. not spreading.
Reason #2 is actually flavor. The longer you let it chill, the more the flavors will blend together, intensifying the taste of the cookies. You can let the dough chill for about a week in the refrigerator, but I usually do not keep it there more than one-two days.
What is room temperature butter anyway?
Softened, or room temperature butter, is actually quite cool to the touch. If pressing your finger into the butter, it will make a slight indent. This is at a temperature of about 65F (18C). Too warm butter may cause cookies to overspread, and we want them to keep their shapes, right!
This is a super easy fix. You can simply omit the peppermint in all the steps, and you will get a delightful white chocolate sugar cookie coated in dark chocolate ganache. Easy and delicious!
If you came here for the white chocolate, I can also highly recommend these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies or white chocolate mousse!
I put the peppermint chocolate ganache in a shallow bowl, to be able to cover the sugar cookies completely. However, I didn't want to do this with the snowman-shaped ones.
I held the cookies at an angle so that I could cover the bottom left of the cookies with chocolate. Then I took a butter knife to cover the hat with chocolate, and a toothpick to shape faces, buttons, and scarves.
I completely covered the star-shaped cookies by dipping them in the shallow bowl, then when the chocolate is still wet I sprinkle it with candy cane dust. If you want to cover the entire cookie in chocolate, you have to double the ganache.
The candy cane dust is simply chopped candy canes ground in a spice grinder. You can also smash it with something heavy if you don't have a spice grinder. Then I mixed it with a tiny bit of silver dust, just for some sparkling action.
How to Make the Recipe
Finely chop the white chocolate, and set it aside. In a medium bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour and baking powder. In a large bowl, using a stand or hand mixer, mix the butter until creamy, about a minute. Add in sugar and salt and mix until smooth, another minute or two. Crack in the egg and the extracts and mix again.
Note that if you're using a stand mixer, you can use the paddle attachment the entire time, but if using a hand mixer you need to switch from regular balloon whisk to dough hooks at this point.
Add in flour, at low speed, little by little. Fold in white chocolate at last.
Knead the dough a little together. Divide in two and flatten each into a 1-inch thick disc and cover in plastic foil.* Let this chill for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 375F (190C).
* In the photos, I didn't divide the dough in two, and I found it got a little too big, so it's easier to make two smaller discs.
Once ready, on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into about ¼ inch thickness (5-6 mm). Cut using your favorite cookie cutters, and place on parchment-lined baking sheets.
Bake for 8-9 minutes. Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the peppermint ganache, roughly chop the chocolate and melt with shortening at 30 seconds intervals in the microwave, stirring between each. Once it's almost all melted, take it out of the microwave and stir until completely melted. Stir in the peppermint extract.
Now decorate as mentioned above or any way you want. Best enjoyed with a cup of hot chocolate, mulled wine, or chai whiskey hot toddy.
- Vixen's Eggnog Cookies with Maple Frosting
- Classic Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Norwegian Old-Fashioned Donuts
- Norwegian Christmas Rice Puffs
- Salted caramel-filled coffee cookies
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📖 Recipe
Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies
Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies are just like extra flavorful sugar cookies, they are tender and buttery, with just a hint of peppermint.
Ingredients
Cookies ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour (360g)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 sticks softened butter (225g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1-2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- 4 oz white chocolate (100g)
Peppermint Ganache
- 5 oz dark chocolate (150g. I used 100g semi-sweet and 50g bittersweet)
- 2 teaspoon shortening (or canola oil)
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2-4 tablespoon crushed candy cane (for dusting)
Instructions
- Finely chop the white chocolate, and set it aside. In a medium bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour and baking powder.
- In a large bowl, using a stand or hand mixer, mix the butter until creamy, about a minute. Add in sugar and salt and mix until smooth, another minute or two. Add in the egg and the extracts and mix again.
- Now add in flour*, at low speed, little by little. Fold in white chocolate at last.
- Knead the dough a little for it to come together. Divide in two and flatten each into a 1 inch thick disc and cover in plastic foil.
- Let this chill for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 375F (190C).
- Once ready, on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into about ¼ inch thickness (5-6 mm). Cut using your favorite cookie cutters, place on parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes. Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the peppermint ganache**, roughly chop chocolate and melt with shortening on 30 seconds intervals in the microwave, stirring between each. Once it's almost all melted, take it out of the microwave and stir until completely melted. Stir in the peppermint extract.
- For the candy cane dust, add roughly chopped candy cane to a spice grinder or pestel and mortar and grind until desired consistency. Mix in silver dust, if you want extra sparkle. You can also put the candy cane in bags and smash with something heavy.
- Decorating into snowmen: I held the cookies at an angle, so that I could cover the bottom-left of the cookies with chocolate. Then I took a butter knife to cover the hat with chocolate, and a toothpick to shape faces, buttons and scarves.
Notes
* Note that if you're using a stand mixer, you can use the paddle attachment the entire time, but if using a hand mixer you need to switch from regular balloon to dough hooks at this point.
** If you want to completely cover the cookies with ganache, you need to double the recipe.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 174Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5.6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 24mgSodium: 89mgCarbohydrates: 21.5gFiber: 0.5gSugar: 11.4gProtein: 2.2g
Nutrition information isn't always accurate, estimate for informational purposes only.