Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies
If you’ve got leftover candy canes try this EASY recipe for Candy Cane Cookies, leftover candy canes never had it so good! If you have someone who loves peppermint AND cookies this recipe is for you.
Big soft baked peppermint sugar cookies are topped with an easy peppermint frosting and then topped with crushed-up leftover candy canes!
Are these Peppermint cookies?
YES!! These are the absolute pinnacle of peppermint cookies! We’ve got a lightly flavored peppermint cookie. Topped with a gentle peppermint-flavored frosting. And then a layer of crushed peppermint candy canes.
What do I need to make to Make these Candy Cane Cookies?
- softened butter
- granulated sugar
- all-purpose flour
- eggs
- powdered sugar
- peppermint extract–do not use essential oils
- baking powder
- salt
- crushed candy canes or peppermint candies
Can I use peppermint essential oils for this candy cane cookie recipe?
NO. These cookies don’t taste good made with essential oils. Please use peppermint extract for this recipe for the best results. Essential oils, to me, do not taste good when they’re baked into cookies. The flavor is not great.
What to do with leftover candy canes
Leftover candy canes are never a terrible problem to have, right? If you have some use them to stir hot cocoa or even hot coffee. Or try these amazing recipes that use leftover candy canes!
- Peppermint Bark
- Snowman Soup
- No Bake Marshmallow Treats with Oreos
- Christmas Rice Crispy Treats
- Candy Cane Shortbread
- Peppermint Mocha Cookies
What if I don’t have leftover candy canes?
If you don’t have any leftover candy canes or the ones you do have are a sticky mess can you still make these cookies? Yes, you can! Just swap out the crushed candy canes with crushed starlight mints.
You can find starlight mints in just about any candy aisle in any store. They’re the round peppermint disk candies that are so ubiquitous at restaurants. You’ll need roughly 3 ounces of starlight mints to replace the candy canes called for in this recipe.
Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Peppermint Cookies
- 1/2 cup unsalted sweet cream butter softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Peppermint Frosting
- ½ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp peppermint extract
- ½ cup crushed candy canes about 5
Instructions
- preheat the oven to 350°
- line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside
- cream the butter and sugar until very soft and fluffy, 4-5 minutes
- Beat in eggs and extract [mv_schema_meta name="beat in the eggs and extracts"]
- in a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together
- stir into the wet ingredients[mv_schema_meta name="stir flour mix into wet ingredients"]
- divide the dough into 14 cookies, roll into balls[mv_schema_meta name="flattened dough on cookie sheets"]
- place on the prepared sheets
- dip a cup in flour and press until the cookies are about 1/3 inch thick
- bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies are just set
- let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack
- make the icing by beating together the butter and powdered sugar
- add the peppermint extract and stir until smooth
- put the candy canes in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped
- frost each cookie in a spiral and then with the crushed candy canes
Here in Australia we have a tradition called Christmas in July. Mostly because it is cold in July and come December the temperature will be pushing 45ºC (113ºF) and all the warm comforting Christmas dishes are too hot to make!
So I made these cookies for our Christmas in July cookie swap. They were such a hit! Everyone loved them and wanted the recipe.
These are so delicious! I’ll be making them all holiday season long!
The ingredients say baking powder, but the directions say baking soda. Which is it? Baking powder or baking soda?
oops that should be baking powder!