Holiday Cookies
Cookies are always a hit this time of year and these Peppermint Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting are no exception. I was inspired by these Key Lime Sugar Cookies but wanted to put a winter twist on them. I essentially subbed the lime flavor for peppermint, tweaked the cookie recipe itself slightly, and opted for a cream cheese frosting. For that peppermint flavor, the recipe includes crushed candy canes as well as peppermint extract. (*I crushed my candy canes by putting them in a large zip lock bag and gently smashing them with a hammer.) Let’s get into the full details on how to make these peppermint sugar cookies…
Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Peppermint Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting. Let’s start with the dry ingredients – whisk them together to ensure you don’t have any clumps of baking soda or corn starch. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat the heck out of that butter and sugar together until it is light in both color and texture. Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl periodically. Now add in the egg and peppermint extract. Finally, you want to gradually stir in the dry ingredients and half of the crushed candy cane pieces. Save the other half of the candy for decorating the cookies. Now the part everyone hates, chill the dough for an hour. Yes, you could make these straight away without chilling but they absolutely turn out better if you take the time to chill the dough. Once chilled, form the dough into 1″ balls, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees F for 14-16 minutes. Exact time will vary based on your individual oven.
Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting
Yes, you could eat the cookies as is. However, peppermint sugar cookies WITH cream cheese frosting is what really puts this recipe over the top. While your cookies are cooling, you can make the peppermint cream cheese frosting. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, and peppermint extract together. Gradually stir in the powdered sugar. Don’t add it all at once as the powdered sugar and easily puff up out of the bowl, making a huge mess. Spread the frosting over the cookies and sprinkle on the candy cane pieces reserved from the cookie recipe to decorate. FYI, this frosting would also be incredible on chocolate cake/cupcakes.
Peppermint Sugar Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 5 oz crushed candy cane, divided (This is 12 candy canes)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 4 oz unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Cookies
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, corn starch, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light in color. Scrape sides of the bowl as needed.
- Mix in egg and peppermint extract.
- Gradually add in flour mixture and half of the crushed candy canes. Again, scrape the bowl periodically. Mix until just combined.
- Chill dough 1 hour.
- Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350°F.
- Roll cookie dough into 1” balls then place on parchment covered cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies.
- Bake 14-16 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, and peppermint extract until fully combined.
- Gradually stir in powdered sugar.
- Spread frosting over cooled cookies and top with remaining crushed candy cane pieces.