Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I discovered these peppermint chocolate chip cookies on a December afternoon when my sister arrived with a tin of homemade treats and I couldn't stop eating them straight from her hands. She wouldn't share the recipe at first, insisting they were too simple to bother writing down, but after I made her promise to teach me, we ended up in her kitchen laughing over how the peppermint extract made everything smell like a candy shop. That first batch I made alone turned out slightly too soft in the middle, but that imperfection became the whole point—chewy, buttery, dotted with chocolate that hadn't fully set. Now they're what I reach for when the holidays feel rushed or when someone needs reminding that homemade means something.

My neighbor knocked on the door on Christmas Eve asking if I had any desserts to spare for an unexpected dinner guest, and I handed her the last cookie from that morning's batch. She came back the next day asking for the recipe, which felt like the highest compliment—these cookies had somehow turned a stressful evening into a moment of generosity.

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour (2 1/4 cups): The backbone that holds everything together; measure by weight if you can, as scooping directly from the bag compacts it and can throw off your ratios.
• Unsalted butter (1 cup): Softened, not melted—it needs to be cool enough to hold air when you beat it, which is where the fluffiness comes from.
• Granulated and brown sugar (3/4 cup each): Brown sugar adds moisture and chew; don't skip it even if you only have white.
• Eggs (2 large): At room temperature, they incorporate more smoothly and create a better crumb.
• Peppermint extract (1 teaspoon): This is potent stuff—a teaspoon is enough to fill a room with scent, so resist the urge to overdo it.
• Semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup): Good quality makes a difference; cheap chips taste waxy and flat by comparison.
• Fresh mint leaves (1/2 cup, chopped): This is the secret that most recipes miss—it adds a living brightness that peppermint extract can't touch.
• Crushed peppermint candies (1/2 cup): Candy canes work if you have them; pulse them in a food processor just until chunky, not powdery.
• White chocolate chips (1/2 cup, optional): They sweeten the deal if you like things on the less bitter side.

Instructions

Get your mise en place ready:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper while you're thinking about it. There's nothing worse than realizing halfway through that you need to find parchment when your hands are sticky with dough.

Combine the dry team:

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl until they're evenly mixed. This distributes the leavening evenly so your cookies rise with confidence instead of ballooning unevenly.

Cream butter and sugars until it's clouds:

Beat them together for about 2–3 minutes using an electric mixer—the mixture should look pale, airy, and noticeably lighter than when you started. This step is where you're building the structure of your cookie, so don't rush it.

Add eggs one at a time:

Beat each egg in thoroughly before adding the next, then mix in the vanilla and peppermint extracts. You'll notice the mixture becoming slightly loose and glossy, which means the emulsion is working.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients:

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in two additions, stirring just until you don't see white streaks anymore. Overmixing at this stage makes cookies tough, so stop as soon as everything comes together.

Fold in all the good stuff:

Add chocolate chips, white chocolate chips if using, chopped fresh mint, and crushed peppermint candies, stirring until they're evenly distributed. The dough should look studded and festive, like confetti made of flavor.

Scoop and space:

Use a tablespoon or small cookie scoop to portion dough onto baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. They'll spread as they bake, and crowding them means edges that bake too fast and centers that stay raw.

Bake until the edges say yes:

Bake for 9–11 minutes, watching until the edges turn light golden but the centers still look slightly underbaked. This is the magic window—pull them out too early and they'll be dough, too late and they'll be hard.

Rest and transfer:

Let cookies sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes to set slightly, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. This wait time prevents them from breaking apart when you move them.

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I'll never forget the moment my eight-year-old took a bite of one of these and declared it tasted like winter felt—cool and sweet and somehow both fancy and fun. That description has stayed with me, and now whenever I make them, I remember that baking isn't really about perfection; it's about creating something that lands in someone's mouth and makes them stop for a second.

The Peppermint and Chocolate Dance

Peppermint and chocolate are famous partners, but what makes this version different is that fresh mint adds a vegetal quality that candy-flavored recipes never quite capture. The chocolate doesn't need to be fancy—it just needs to be good enough that it doesn't taste like plastic—but what it does is soften the peppermint's intensity so the whole cookie reads as festive without tasting medicinal. There's a moment right after these bake when the peppermint aroma hits hardest, and if you breathe it in while they're still warm, you'll understand why people make these year-round despite their holiday reputation.

Storage and Staying Power

These cookies stay soft for three days in an airtight container, and by day four they've firmed up just enough to be almost like biscotti without being unpleasant. If you stack them, put parchment between layers so they don't stick together, which is a small thing that saves a lot of frustration. The dough also freezes beautifully—scoop it and freeze the portions on a baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag, and you can bake fresh cookies whenever the craving hits without any thawing required.

Flavor Variations Worth Trying

Once you've made these a few times, you start seeing possibilities everywhere. Swapping the chocolate chips for dark chocolate (or going full dark and cutting back the sugar slightly) makes them taste almost sophisticated; white chocolate instead of semisweet shifts the whole flavor toward creamy sweetness; even the mint can change the vibe—double the fresh mint and halve the peppermint extract if you want something more herbaceous and less candy-like. The beautiful part is that this base is forgiving enough that you can play around without the whole thing falling apart.

• Dark chocolate deepens the flavor and reduces the sweetness if that's your preference.
• Crushed freeze-dried strawberries mixed with white chocolate chips offer a completely different festive angle.
• A tiny pinch of cayenne pepper with the peppermint creates a warm, peppery surprise that catches people off guard.

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These cookies taste like kindness looks—approachable, a little bit fancy, and impossible to turn down. If baking ever feels like a chore, make a batch of these and you'll remember why it's actually a love language.

Recipe FAQs

→ How can I intensify the mint flavor in these cookies?

Add more fresh mint or increase the amount of peppermint extract slightly to enhance the minty taste.

→ Can I substitute dark or milk chocolate chips instead of semisweet?

Yes, dark or milk chocolate chips can replace semisweet chips based on personal preference.

→ What is the best way to store these cookies?

Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week to maintain freshness.

→ Is it necessary to use both white and semisweet chocolate chips?

No, white chocolate chips are optional and can be omitted or replaced without affecting the texture.

→ How do crushed peppermint candies affect the texture?

They add a crunchy, festive element and enhance the mint flavor within the soft, chewy cookies.