These delicious peppermint sugar cookies are soft, fluffy, and topped with a delicious mixture of peppermint, coarse sugar, and chocolate shavings. They’re easy to make and will be a new holiday favorite!
There are a few flavors that I can’t get enough of around Christmastime. Cranberry orange (like in these cranberry orange muffins) is one, hot chocolate (like these hot chocolate muddy buddies) is other, and peppermint is the last one.
I already shared my peppermint hot chocolate recipe so today I’m sharing some yummy peppermint sugar cookies to go along with it!
If you’ve ever had a Chick Fil-A peppermint milkshake, these remind me of those with their peppermint flavor, chocolate shavings, and peppermint crunch on top. I’m obsessed with them (why aren’t they around ALL year long!?), so you know I love these cookies!
These would be the perfect Christmas cookies to add to any treat plate, to leave out for Santa, or to give to friends and family along with these cute holiday treat tags!
They’re super easy to whip up a batch and take no time at all so let’s get to baking so we can enjoy these cookies sooner than later!
I know my boys all loved them, and I hope you and your family do too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Soft and fluffy – if you like the frosted sugar cookies you can get at every grocery store, you’ll love these. They have a similar texture, just with the addition of a little peppermint flavor!
- Peppermint flavor – while not overwhelming, there’s enough of peppermint flavor in the cookies and frosting to give these a nice holiday spin!
- No chill dough – unlike many cut out sugar cookies, you don’t need to chill the dough for these peppermint sugar cookies! Mix, bake, and eat!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Cake Flour – make sure to use cake flour. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make your own cake flour by mixing three cups, minus six tablespoons, of regular all-purpose flour with six tablespoons of cornstarch. Or just order it from your local grocery store where its readily available.
- Heavy cream – if you don’t have heavy cream, you can use whole milk in its place instead.
- Shortening – you can substitute the shortening with butter if you like, but you will need to chill the dough if you use all butter instead of shortening.
- Butter – speaking of butter, I recommend unsalted butter but if you only have salted butter, just omit the added salt the recipe calls for.
In addition to the ingredients above, I recommend peppermint candy pieces, chocolate shavings, and
how to make peppermint sugar cookies
There’s not a lot to this recipe – it’s just mixing, rolling, and baking. Oh and of course frosting and decorating but that’s the fun part!
1 – Make the peppermint sugar cookies
Start by preheating your oven to 325°F and lining two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set those aside for later once your dough is ready.
First combine the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Next, in a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, shortening, and sour cream on medium-high for about three minutes or until it is light and fluffy.
Now add the egg, vanilla and peppermint extract and mix well until everything is completely combined. You want to make sure it’s throughoughly combined before you add the dry ingredients next.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture a little at a time, mixing on low until all dry ingredients are fully combined with the creamed mixture. Don’t overmix, just mix until they’re combined.
Once everything is fully mixed, use a medium (two tablespoon) cookie scoop and place dough balls on prepared baking sheets two inches apart. These will expand as they bake so make sure to keep some space between them.
Gently press the dough balls down using the bottom of a cup to flatten them slightly. If the cookies stick to the cup, you can dip the bottom of the cup in flour or powdered sugar before pressing down.
Bake for 10 – 13 minutes, until the tops are set but still a pale yellow. Make sure you don’t over bake them and don’t wait until they’re golden. They’ll finish baking on the cookie sheet before cooling.
Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before you transfer them to the cooling rack to finish cooling.
2 – Make the Peppermint Frosting
While the cookies are cooling, begin making the frosting by beating together the butter and peppermint extract until smooth and creamy.
Now slowly add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, followed by 1 TBS of the heavy cream. Add more cream as needed to get a good consistency. You want it to be spreadable, not pourable (like you would with this sugar cookie icing).
After cookies are completely cool, frost them. You can move the wire cooling rack on top of a piece of a parchment paper or on top of a baking sheet to catch any leftovers when you decorate them next.
Once they’re frosted, sprinkle with your choice of garnish such as crushed peppermints, coarse sugar, and chocolate curls. Or all three – that’s my personal favorite!
You could also serve them just with frosting, but that’s not nearly as fun!
Once the cookies are frosted, they’re ready to enjoy right away! You can either just serve them up right away or wrap them individually in plastic wrap to store for later.
Expert Tips
Store the cookies in an airtight container or individually wrapped in plastic wrap. They should be good for up to five days at room temperature.
Make sure your butter is very soft before trying to use it in this recipe. If it’s not soft, it will not cream properly, which can cause issues with the texture and softness of the cookies.
Stores sell peppermint pieces that are perfect for decorating these cookies. If you can’t find those, place candy canes or peppermint candies in a plastic bag and hit with a meat mallet, bottom of a water bottle, or something else heavy until you get little pieces for decorating.
Run a chocolate bar over a fine grater or a zester to get little chocolate shavings on top of the cookies. It’s the same thing I do with my striped delight and adds a nice little touch.
Recipe FAQs
Freeze these cookies before frosting ideally. Place them in an airtight freezer safe bag or container and freeze for up to three months. If they’re already frosted and decorated, you can still freeze. Just wrap them individually in plastic wrap then put those individually wrapped cookies into a freezer safe bag. Thaw cookies individually to room temperature to enjoy.
More Christmas Cookies
If you like these peppermint sugar cookies, you have to try these other delicious Christmas cookies!
- Christmas tree cookies – delicious sugar cookies frosted to look just like Christmas trees!
- Melted snowman cookies – sugar cookies topped with marshmallow snowman that just melted away.
- Christmas pinwheel cookies – the cutest Christmas cookies that look like red and green pinwheels!
- Grinch sugar cookies – the cutest Christmas cookies inspired by the leaning trees in the Grinch movies!
- Andes mint cookies – four ingredient cookies filled with an Andes mint in the middle!
- Red velvet cookies – red velvet cookies loaded with white chocolate chips then topped with a simple icing!
Frosted Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp peppermint extract
- 1 large egg
Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ½ tsp peppermint extract
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 TBS heavy cream
- pink food coloring optional
Topping:
- crushed peppermint candies
- coarse sugar
- chocolate bar shaved
Instructions
Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.3 cups cake flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt
- In a large bowl or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, shortening, and sour cream on medium-high for about 3 minutes or until it is light and fluffy.1 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, 1/2 cup sour cream
- Add the egg, vanilla, and peppermint extract. Mix until well combined.2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp peppermint extract, 1 large egg
- Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture a little at a time, mixing on low until all dry ingredients are fully combined with the creamed mixture.
- Use a medium cookie scoop and place dough balls on prepared baking sheet 2" apart.
- Gently press the dough balls down using the bottom of a cup.
- Bake for 10 – 13 minutes, until the tops are set but still a pale yellow. Make sure you don't over bake them.
- Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before you transfer them to the cooling rack to finish cooling.
Frosting a garnish:
- Beat together the butter and peppermint extract until smooth and creamy.1 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- Slowly add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, followed by 1 TBS of the heavy cream. Add more cream as needed to get a good consistency. Add pink food coloring if desired to get the pink frosting color.3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2 TBS heavy cream, pink food coloring
- After cookies are completely cool, frost them and sprinkle tops with crushed peppermints, coarse sugar, and chocolate curls .crushed peppermint candies, coarse sugar, chocolate bar
Tips & Notes:
- Cake Flour – make sure to use cake flour. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make your own cake flour by mixing three cups, minus six tablespoons, of regular all-purpose flour with six tablespoons of cornstarch. Or just order it from your local grocery store where its readily available.
- Heavy cream – if you don’t have heavy cream, you can use whole milk in its place instead.
- Shortening – you can substitute the shortening with butter if you like, but you will need to chill the dough if you use all butter instead of shortening.
- Butter – speaking of butter, I recommend unsalted butter but if you only have salted butter, just omit the added salt the recipe calls for.
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