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.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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.
Hello there,
I just made these cookies and although the flavor was great, they were crumbling.. The centers are very soft and when holding the cookie, it just breaks apart into pieces. Help?? Thanks!
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer – perhaps they needed to be cooked a bit longer? Or your flour measurement was a little off? Did you make any changes? Maybe they’ll firm up after they’ve sat for a while.
Delicious cookies. I made the dough a couple days in advance of baking. I had to make adjustments to both time and temperature. I increased the oven temp to 360 and baked them for 12+ minutes (perhaps as long as 15 minutes) in order to get them hard enough. I let them sit on the baking sheets for 5 minutes per the instructions but found that that didn’t result in a ‘solid’ cookie. Back in the oven they went. Anyway, after fiddling around a bit, they came out fine and will be appreciated during the holidays, I’m sure.
Hi Paula – thanks for the comment. I prefer a soft not solid cookie, so the crunch in these cookies comes from the Andes Peppermint Crunch chips and not from the cookie. But I suppose if you want a solid crunchy cookie baking them longer is a good option. Glad you enjoyed them.
I just made these ( a little late in the game) and they are delicious! Except I had an issue with them spreading out extremely thin. The flavor is fantastic but the form is definitely off. I double, triple checked the recipe and I’m pretty sure I followed it. Any idea what the problem might be?
Thanks!
Hi Nicole – glad you enjoyed the cookies. So many things can make your cookies flat, it’s hard for me to guess. If your butter was too hot or too cold, if the butter and sugar weren’t creamed together long enough to aerate the butter, old baking soda, not enough flour, your altitude? An easy fix might be to refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before baking and that will often help.
Thanks so much! I will definitely be going for round two!
Made these tonight–perfect. Years ago, I made a similar recipe using crushed candy canes for the mint chips. I quit doing it because that was such a messy hassle, but I found the Andes chips at WM and they are the perfect solution. Also used the Hershey’s “special dark” cocoa which is a blend of Dutch + Reg, and the color is spectacular. Now I think I might try something else from your site! Thanks!
These are delicious! I didn’t have any white chocolate chips, so I just used the entire bag of peppermint chips instead. I am trying not to eat them all myself!! Thank you for the recipe, Barbara!
Thanks Jamie! So glad you enjoyed them.
I am dying to make these cookies, but have been unable to find the Andes Peppermint Crunch Chips at a regular grocery store. (I’ve tried my local Walmart and Smith’s.) Any suggestions on where I can find them?
Thanks! I’ve seen them at Target. I bought mine at Harmons. If you can’t find them, you could sub Peppermint Bark or add a little peppermint extract (1/4 teaspoon) and use extra white chocolate chips.
Could you use an extra cup of the peppermint chips in place of the white chocolate chips?
You could use extra peppermint chips (I think there was probably 1/2 cup left in the bag) but the chips add a nice chunky texture to the cookie. You could also substitute a nut for the white chocolate chips.
I made this today and they are amazing! I couldn’t find the Andes Peppermint Crunch Chips so I used Andes Peppermint Crunch Thins and just chopped them up. They are my new favorite holiday cookie – thank you Barbara!
Thanks Davia! Now you’ve got me wanting to try the Crunch Thins. Glad you enjoyed the cookies.
What a lovely combination for the holidays! This one is going on my baking list for Christmas 🙂 Thanks for the great tip for making the cookies look pretty too.
Such a treat. I will send these out to some of our relatives 🙂
These look delicious. I’ll look for those Andes chips.
the ultimate christmas cookie is what you should be calling this. I heart peppermint in my baked goods and what a fantastic way to eat a cookie and get the crunch of the peppermint:)
Mmmm, these cookies are the perfect combination of fudgey and festive!
Perfect for the Holidays, Barbara! X
for me, the combo of mint & chocolate is my all time favorite
everyone thinks it’s pb & chocolate, but no it’s mint & chocolate.
did you try the new peppermint tootsie pops? so good!
These are BEAUTIFUL Barbara!!!
these look heavenly! i LOVE chocolate mint!
Hey Thanks for the photography tip! It really works as your cookies look amazing!
Thanks for the tip for cookie presentation. The cookies look wonderful. Very festive with the peppermint flavor.
I want these baking chips!! I’m going to have to get one of my kids to send me some – I already know I’d love them. Wonderful cookies!