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
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ¾ 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.
Laura
I am guessing you used Dutched (alkalized) cocoa powder from the pictures–did you? They look delicious!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Laura – great question. I used the King Arthur Flour all purpose cocoa. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-all-purpose-baking-cocoa-16-oz It has black cocoa in it, which gives it that rich dark color. It’s my favorite cocoa to bake with because you can use it in any recipe. I need to order more. I used up the last of it in these cookies. You could use a Dutch cocoa in this recipe. I’ve used http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/double-dutch-dark-cocoa-16-oz
Jersey Girl Cooks
This screams holiday cookie. Bookmarking it to try this season.
sandie
These look so delicious…. I love when the Andes chips hit the shelves!
Winnie
I am so excited to see this! I love chocolate and peppermint. I have been running up to Williams Sonoma at lunchtime and having their samples of their peppermint bark (heaven!!). It is so expensive, but so good. I can’t wait to try this.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
These cookies are so tempting!
Jess
Oh wow – I adore Andes mints, but the Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips are new to me. I’ll have to hunt these down when I am back in the US for the holidays!
Betty
If these are like chewy thin mints, then I might not be able to share them. 🙂 They look so good!
Joanie @ Zagleft
Tastes like a thin mint cookie…oh my gosh! They look so good!
I love the suggestion to put a few extra chips on the top of the dough for pictures, what great advice!!
Annalise
I’m going to have to look for those Andes chips next time I’m at the store. These look so yummy!
The Contessa
These sound wonderful. Chocolate amd peppermint are one of my favorite combos. Drop by my kitchen and post this to my Holiday Cookie Exchange. I would love to visit with you in my kitchen. http://www.tumbleweedcontessa.com/blog/2012-cookie-exchange-cookies-and-memories/
Valérie (Franche-Comté)
Comme c’est bien tout choco
Bonne et belle nuit
Valérie.
carrian
Those chocolate cookies look perfect! I am seriously going to be in trouble with the late night snacking when I make these.
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc
these look awesome Barbara!!
Emily
I just bought a bag of these chips. I think I’m going to try them in my favorite chocolate bundt cake recipe, but I may have to buy another bag for these cookies!
Averie @ Averie Cooks
I love that they’re dark with some texture and crunch to them! Too often choc cookies can be one-dimensional but not these!
Lesa @Edesia's Notebook
Yum! I love the chocolate/peppermint combo at Christmastime. These look delicious!
Living The Sweet Life
It’s beginning to look a lot like christmas 😉 Woooo-hoooooo!! I love these cookies!!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
Unreal!
Loretta | A Finn In The Kitchen
Like a chewy thin mint cookie? I’m sold on that! It sounds incredible and I have to see if I can find those Andes. They look gorgeous.
Rosa
What gorgeous cookies! Very tempting.
Cheers,
Rosa