White Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread Cookies are the perfect holiday cookie! They are dipped in white chocolate & topped with crushed peppermint candies.
Holiday Baking
One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is the holiday baking. I love baking for others and I love getting my kids involved too. These White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are the perfect holiday cookie for such an occasion. These buttery shortbread cookies are flavored with peppermint, then dipped in rich white chocolate and lastly sprinkled with crushed peppermint candies. They are easy to make and my kids love helping with the dipping and most importantly, the sprinkling.
Shortbread Dough
The base of this delicious holiday cookie is a shortbread dough. Dough for shortbread cookies do not have any liquid in them and have a high ratio of butter. The end result is a rich butter cookie that makes for a delicious treat. The particular recipe that I use for these cookies is from Ina Garten. It’s delicious, straight forward and works great when flavored with peppermint. Here are some tips for making a successful shortbread dough:
- Make sure your butter is room temperature, that way it incorporates well with the sugar.
- Don’t overwork the dough to avoid the cookies getting too tough.
- Make sure you don’t skip the 30 minutes of chilling time which prevents the cookies from spreading.
White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
These sweet little cookies look fancy but are so very simple to make. Obviously, this makes them perfect for gifts! Here are some different ways you can enjoy them this holiday season:
- Cookie Exchanges
- Neighbor Gifts
- Cookies for Santa
- Gifts for Teachers
or enjoy them with your family with a cup of hot cocoa!
White Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ lb unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 oz white chocolate, chopped finely
- ½ cup crushed peppermint candies or candy canes
Instructions
- In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, sugar and peppermint extract. Mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until butter and sugar are just combined.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and shape into a large disk. Wrap disk in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, preheat oven to 350° and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Remove dough from the fridge and take out of the plastic wrap. Place dough on a floured surface and roll out to approximately ¼" thickness. Use a glass or round cookie cutter (approximately 2 ½" diameter) cut circles out of the dough and place on prepared cookie sheets. When no more room is left to cut circles. Combine scraps back into a ball of dough and roll out to cut more circles. If the dough gets too soft and sticky, place back in the fridge to chill.
- Bake cookies on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until the edges just barely start to turn golden brown.
- Remove cookies from the oven and let cool for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cookies are cooled, place white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30 seconds intervals at 50% power, stirring in between. Be careful not to microwave too long or the chocolate will burn. Only cook it until the chocolate is 75% melted and then stir it until it finishes melting.
- Dip the front half of the cooled cookies in the white chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or waxed paper. Once cookies are all dipped, sprinkled crushed peppermint candies or candy canes on the white chocolate portion of the cookies. Let chocolate set up completely before serving or storing.
Notes
I hope you enjoy these fun holiday cookies as much as our family does. Comment below and let me know what your favorite thing to bake during the holidays is!
