Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

If you love mint chocolate as much as I do, you are going to adore these large bakery-style chocolate peppermint cookies. They are this, soft, fudgy and packed with white and dark chocolate chunks, with chunks of candy pieces and peppermint flavour throughout.

These bakery-style cookies are perfect for Christmas baking with slightly crisp edges and soft gooey centres. They are also incredibly easy to make with no chilling required!

Notes from The Patisserie

Chocolate and peppermint are such a classic combination, especially at Christmas, that I couldn’t resist posting this recipe. For the readers in the UK, these are a dupe of the Peppermint Bark Cookies from M&S that are so adored, but making them yourself is even better.

I wanted to merge recipes using my basic triple chocolate cookies and triple chocolate NYC cookies as a base to make giant but thinner cookies, to replicate the style you get in a supermarket here in the UK.

I have made this style of cookie countless times, and this flavour is one of the best. I use cocoa powder for a rich chocolate cookie dough base, but using both white and dark chocolate chunks gives a lovely balance of sweetness. The peppermint extract provides a consistent minty base flavour and I adore it.

Ingredient Notes and Tips

The cookie dough is basic and full of store cupboard ingredients but I still like to provide certain swaps or ideas just in case you need to do any changes. Of course, the full recipe can be found in the recipe card below:

• Butter – I liked to use either an unsalted block butter or a baking spread for cookies like this – if you struggle with your cookies spreading too much, I would stick to a block butter in foil as it’s firmer. Make sure block butter is softened enough to mix before using in the recipe
• Sugar – I used all light brown soft sugar in this cookie recipe as I prefer the flavour and texture it creates, but you can use a mix of this and granulated sugar if you prefer like my other cookies. I would use 100g brown sugar and 75g white granulated sugar
• Egg – You can use a medium egg or a large egg for these, I always use medium
• Flavours – I find the addition of a good quality vanilla extract and peppermint extract creates a wonderful balance of flavours that I adore – of course they are optional.
• Flour – Use plain flour (also known as all purpose flour) as you want to control how much raising agent you add yourself
• Cocoa – A strong cocoa powder is best – avoid hot chocolate powders as the flavour doesn’t carry through to the cookies and they are mainly sugar
• Raising agents – Using a small amount of baking powder AND bicarbonate of soda provides the best texture – they do not swap easily
• Salt – I use a little sea salt in my bakes as I prefer to control how much salt is in the recipe. You can swap to salted butter if you prefer and leave out the extra salt

The chocolate peppermint flavours

Because I am trying to replicate a cookie that I have eaten myself, and I wanted to make them as delicious as possible, there are quite a few additions.

I did a mix of white chocolate and dark chocolate (feel free to use chocolate chips, or chopped up bars of chocolate, or even chocolate buttons) – but of course, if you have a preference to a different type of chocolate that is totally fine to swap.

I also used a smaller amount of crushed candy canes for extra peppermint – you do not want to add too much candy cane as its basically just sugar, and can cause problems in the bake if there is too much. Therefore, a smaller amount of 50g of candy canes inside the cookie dough, and then adding extra after baking is best.

Making these cookies New-York Style

If you have followed my recipes before, and follow me online, you will know how much I adore a New-York Style cookie. I made these chocolate peppermint cookies more bakery style instead, but as I know lots of you will want to try these as my normal style, here is how to do that.

• Follow the recipe as written but the only change in ingredients is to increase the baking powder from 0.5tsp to 1.5tsp
• After portioning the cookies to 120-125g each, chill the cookies for an hour in the fridge or 30 minutes in the freezer (or longer, not less)
• Increase the temperature of the oven to 200ºc conventional, or 180ºc fan – a higher temperature shocks the cookies into the giant chunky shape.

Storage and Freezing

Whilst I find these cookies best to eat whilst warm, these cookies will last for 3-4+ days at room temperature. I store them in an airtight container with layers of parchment paper in-between layers of cookies if needed.

You can freeze these cookies for 3+ months once baked – let them cool fully before freezing. Freeze flat whilst on a tray, and then freeze in a container. You can also freeze the raw cookie dough and bake from frozen (Add 1-2 minutes baking time) if you want freshly baked cookies.