Description
These Peppermint Sugar Cookies are festive slice-and-bake treats featuring a delightful combination of peppermint and chocolate flavors. They offer crisp edges and soft, chewy middles with a vibrant peppermint candy design inside. Perfect for holiday cookie exchanges or Christmas boxes, these cookies are easy to prepare ahead and visually impressive.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- ¾ cup butter (softened slightly)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 large egg (room temperature)
- 2 cups all purpose flour (240g)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (dutch processed)
Coloring and Coating
- red gel food coloring (as needed)
- white gel food coloring (optional, as needed)
- ¼ cup coarse sugar (for coating)
- 2 tablespoons crushed peppermint candies (or crushed candy canes)
Instructions
- Make the Base Dough: In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar just until combined, avoiding over-beating for fluffiness. Add sea salt, vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and the room temperature egg, mixing only until combined even if the mixture looks slightly split.
- Add Flour and Divide Dough: Sift the all-purpose flour directly into the bowl and fold or mix gently until just combined into a dough. Cut off about one third of the dough and set it aside for coloring and shaping.
- Create Red Dough Log: Take the smaller portion of dough cut off previously, divide it in half. Add red gel food coloring drop by drop to one half until a vibrant red color is achieved. Shape this into a short, thick log approximately four inches long on parchment paper. Freeze until completely firm, about 20 minutes.
- Create White Dough Log (Optional): For the other half of the smaller portion, add white gel food coloring gradually to create white dough. Shape it similarly into a four-inch log on parchment paper and freeze for 20 minutes until firm.
- Prepare Chocolate Dough: Add the cocoa powder to the larger remaining dough portion and mix well to form a chocolate cookie dough. Leave it at room temperature for now.
- Slice Colored Dough Logs: After freezing, remove the red and white dough logs. Slice each log lengthwise multiple times to create eight long rectangular wedges per color. This involves slicing in halves lengthwise and then further dividing each portion.
- Assemble Patterned Logs: Reconstruct two new logs by alternating the red and white wedges, pressing them firmly together and smoothing out gaps using your fingers to create a compact multi-colored log.
- Join Colored Logs: Press the two patterned logs together end to end, smoothing the seam with fingers. Wrap in parchment and freeze for 10 minutes to firm, maintaining the shape.
- Wrap in Chocolate Dough: Flatten the chocolate dough into a rectangle approximately the same length as the colored log. Remove the colored log from freeze and place it on the chocolate dough rectangle. Use the parchment paper to wrap the chocolate dough evenly around the colored center, redistributing excess dough for uniform coverage. Roll gently to smooth the surface.
- Coat with Sugar and Peppermint: Combine the coarse sugar and crushed peppermint candies and spread this mixture on parchment paper. Roll the chocolate-wrapped dough log liberally in the sugar-peppermint mixture for full coating. Wrap again in parchment and freeze for 20-30 minutes until fully chilled.
- Preheat Oven and Slice: Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C). Place the chilled cookie log on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to slice it into ½ inch thick cookies.
- Bake Cookies: Arrange the cookie slices on a parchment-lined or non-stick baking sheet, spacing them 1-2 inches apart for spreading. Bake in the preheated oven for 11 minutes or until the tops lose their shine but the centers remain soft and slightly underbaked.
- Cool and Repeat: Remove cookies using a spatula and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Continue baking remaining slices in batches as needed.
Notes
- These cookies have crisp edges and soft, chewy middles with a refreshing peppermint flavor enhanced by crunchy peppermint candy coating.
- The slice-and-bake design makes them easy to prepare ahead, ideal for holiday gatherings or cookie exchanges.
- Using dutch processed cocoa powder enriches the chocolate flavor and deepens color.
- Be careful not to overbeat the butter and sugar; just combining is sufficient for the right texture.
- Freezing the dough logs thoroughly before slicing is essential to maintain the peppermint pattern and clean slices.
- White gel food coloring is optional and can be omitted if unavailable, but it adds a nice contrast.
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week or freeze for longer storage.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 174 kcal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 129 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.4 g
- Trans Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 24 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 29 mg
