Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies
These Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies are a rich, fudgy, dark chocolate, chewy cookie studded with creamy white chocolate chips and Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips.
Whenever I’m at the grocery store, I keep my eyes open for fun baking ingredients. So when I saw Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips I grabbed a bag to make holiday cookies.
Peppermint and chocolate are a classic flavor pairing that always reminds me of the holidays. And these easy cookies are festive enough to bring cheer to any holiday dessert spread!
Update: The holiday season is here, so time to make more chocolate peppermint cookies! I’ve updated the post with new photos and tips for perfectly tender cookies every time.
How to Make Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies
These cookies taste like a delightfully soft and chewy Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie. The dough is packed with dark chocolate flavor. And they stay nice and soft in the middle after baking, which to me is the sign of a perfect cookie. However, if you prefer a crisp cookie, simply bake them for a minute or two longer.
Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips are a mixture of peppermint candies (similar to candy canes) and white chocolate chips. They are a little crunchy, which adds a wonderful contrast to the chewy cookie.
Ingredient Substitutions & Swaps
If you can’t find Andes holiday baking chips, no worries. You can also make chocolate peppermint cookies with a mixture of Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark and chopped candy canes for the same crunchy and minty effect.
The other important ingredient note with these cookies is to use unsweetened natural (not Dutch-processed) cocoa powder. My favorite cocoa powder is the Triple Cocoa Blend from King Arthur Flour which is a blend of three cocoas so it works in any recipe and has a rich flavor and dark color.
Tip: When baking cookies, use a scoop to portion out the dough and get perfectly round, even size cookies.
Here’s a tip many of your favorite food bloggers use to make their food look better for photos. If you add a few extra chips to the top of the dough after it’s been mixed and scooped onto cookie trays, those chips will stay on top and help your cookies look prettier.
Make-Ahead Christmas Cookies
These chocolate peppermint cookies are a great make-ahead dessert recipe for the holidays. You can store the dough in the freezer for up to three months. To cook from frozen, just add 2-3 minutes to the baking time.
You can also keep the fully baked cookies fresh in the freezer for up to three months. Simply let the cookies thaw at room temperature for a few hours before serving.
More Must-Try Holiday Dessert Recipes
Ir you’re a fan of seasonal flavors and festive decorations, these cookie recipes are for you:
- White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Bars are perfect for the white chocolate lover in your life.
- Almond Cookie Crisps are an elegant, wafer-like cookie that’s perfect for snacking all December long.
- Mini Marshmallow Surprise Brownie Bites are a decadent upgrade to classic Christmas cookies, complete with red and green candy decorations.
- Chocolate Marshmallow Pops with Candy Cane from Cookin’ Canuck are fun, customizable hand-held desserts that make great gifts.
Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies
Tender, soft chocolate cookies with peppermint crunch are perfect for the holiday season.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and line two cookie sheets with parchment or silpat liners.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Sift cocoa and add to flour mixture. (I like to use a fine-mesh strainer and sift the cocoa right over the bowl with the flour.) Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.
- Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Mix in Peppermint Crunch chips and white chocolate chips.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, drop onto prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cookies will still be soft in the middle. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
High altitude changes: I reduced the granulated sugar to 3/4 cup, add 1 tablespoon flour, and decreased the baking soda to 1 1/2 teaspoons.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
36Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 139Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 121mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 15gProtein: 2g
Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.
Excellent cookies. Gave to neighbors as Xmas gift and had a few left over for my family. Thank you for a great, easy recipient.
Thanks Linda – glad they were a hit!
Do you think it would be ok if chilled overnight?
Hi Megan – yes, it will just need a little longer bake time. Enjoy!
Is it unsweetened cocoa?
Hi Arien – yes, unsweetened cocoa. Enjoy!
Thanks. Also, if I use dutch processed, do I use the same amount of baking powder as baking soda?
Since the cookies use baking soda, Dutch cocoa isn’t recommended. Here’s more info https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2014/01/10/the-a-b-cs-of-cocoa
You misunderstand. If I use dutch processed, I’d be using baking powder. So if the recipe says natural cocoa, and 1/2tsp baking soda, do I use dutch process and 1/2tsp baking powder in its stead?
Your recipe says 1 and 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 2 tsp baking soda. So if I want to use dutch instead of regular, is it still 2 tsp but baking powder instead?
Never mind! I found the substitution. Thanks!
Just realized what I did wrong. I used 1 stick of butter instead of 2
Thanks for the follow up 🙂
Made these but mine stayed the shape of balls, they didn’t spread out into a cookie shape. Any idea what I might of done wrong?
Hi Brenda – maybe how you’re measuring your flour? https://www.barbarabakes.com/how-to-measure-flour/
Thank you for this helpful tip
Love these – 2nd year in a row making them. Any idea on calories ? Only because I track
Oh my goodness!!! These chocolate peppermint crunch cookies are awesome!!! Turned out perfectly!!!! I had to substitute the Ghiradelli peppermint chips because I couldn’t find Andes but this recipe is a keeper for sure! Thank you so much!!! I’m now following you on Facebook & Instagram!!!
That’s awesome! Thanks so much for the rave review Mary.
Just made these cookies as I love peppermint! Are they suppose to be flat? I used all ingredients to the measurements! Was hoping for a puffy mint cocoa cookie. Taste wonderful- just flat!
Thanks for any suggestion.
Lisa
Hi Lisa – no they’re not suppose to be a flat cookie. Glad they tasted good. Did you cream you butter and sugar well? Maybe try adding a little more flour?
Do you sift the cocoa and then measure? Most recipes that call for this say “sifted” in the ingredients but I just wanted to make sure. Thanks!
Hi Jessica – typically I measure first and then sift the cocoa. Enjoy!
made this recipe and absolutely loved it!! i always make my cookies pretty large so added 1-2 minutes baking time and got about 22-24 cookies. very chewy and soft, the perfect cookie. i will definitely be making these again next holiday season!!
Made these with my daughter yesterday and they turned out dry and crumbly. Any suggestions as to why this happened? We followed your recipe to the tea and used your high altitude suggestions since we are at 6,500 ft. I was really hoping for that chewy, chocolate cookie and would love to make it work. Thanks.
Hi Cynthia – 6,500 ft. is really high altitude – you’ll need to make even more changes. Here’s a guide I like https://cityhomecountryhome.blogspot.com/2010/08/high-altitude-baking-and-candy-making.html. Also, how you measure your flour makes a big difference https://www.barbarabakes.com/how-to-measure-flour/. You may also need to reduce your cook time or check your oven with an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is cooking at the correct temperature. Good luck! 🙂
Made these for the second year in a row! I think they’ve eclipsed gingerbread as my favorite Christmas cookie. 🙂
Also – used Andes last year but couldn’t find them this year so I just chopped up a bag of peppermint kisses.
Thanks for taking the time to let me know. Merry Christmas Heather!
Love these cookies! They are definitely not dry at all. I love the consistency and have made them a number of times. The whole family loves them!
Thanks Jennie! I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know your family loves them and that you’ve made them several times.
The batter was a little dry, which had me worried. But these made a really great fudgy and — more importantly — easy cookie to go along with more time-intensive decorated sugar cookies for the cookie platters we give to our neighbors. Thanks!
These are HORRIBLE!!!!!! DRY!DRY!DRY!! Ruined a lot of great ingredients and wasted a lot of precious time.
Oh..you only post positive comments?
I review comments before they’re published to avoid offensive comments.
Hi Kathy – sorry you had troubles with the recipe. I’m not sure what went wrong for you, but these are definitely not a dry cookie. Did you make any changes? Or maybe you left out an ingredient?
Sometimes it could be the type of cocoa your using. If I use an intense dark cocoa, the. It makes a dry cookie dough.
On another note, this is the first time I’m making these tonight. Can’t wait to bring them to my cookie swap.
Good point – thanks Kristy! How fun to have a cookie swap.
Just made these cookies (with the help of my 2 1/2 year old grandson) and they are delicious! Diane
What a fun way to spend time with your grandson. Glad you enjoyed the cookies.