Skip to Content

Crinkle Cookies with Peppermint Cream

December 8, 2024

The easiest way to get us into the holiday spirit? These chocolate crinkle cookies sandwiched with a layer of sweet peppermint cream frosting.

Categories

chocolate Crinkle Cookies With Peppermint Cream and candy cane pieces

Crinkle, Crinkle, the Best Cookies for Kris Kringle

Every household has their own holiday traditions, and for many of us making Christmas cookies with loved ones is at the heart of those magical memories. From rolling out gingerbread dough with Grandma when we could barely reach the countertop, to having our own little kitchen elves to help us measure, mix, and roll out Christmas cookies from the treasure trove of recipes we’ve collected over the years—baking together is one of our favorite ways to slow down with family during a season that can be anything but quiet. And at the top of our must-bake list this year? These peppermint-frosted chocolate crinkle cookies! For even more holiday baking inspiration, try our gingerbread loaf!

Crinkle Cookies With Pepermint Cream 1
Crinkle Cookies With Pepermint Cream 2

The Best Crinkle Cookie Recipe

In our search for the perfect crinkle cookie recipe, we kept coming across one particular version from Cook’s Illustrated. We even found a video for their recipe on their website. After watching the video for the zillionth time, we were ready to dive in. A few tips, mostly learned from our mistakes (you’re welcome):

  • Stick to the highest quality chocolate you can, and aim for a high cocoa content—look for at least 85% cocoa content. Don’t worry about bitterness—these cookies have not one but THREE kinds of sugar in them, so they’ll be plenty sweet. In fact, you want that cocoa-y bitterness to counteract all that sugar.
  • Use your kitchen scale! We suffered through a few wonky batches when we measured by volume. For baking, the best practice is always to use weight because flour can settle and the same volume of flour can have a very different weight. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, add this one to your wish list right now!
  • Frosting makes everything better. Always. Especially if it’s peppermint frosting rolled in crushed candy canes.
chocolate crinkle cookies rolled in powdered sugar baked on a cookie sheet
Crinkle Cookies With Peppermint Cream and crushed candy cane on a plate

How to Make Santa-Approved Christmas Crinkle Cookies:

First of all, follow the directions. Sounds easy enough, right? But seriously, just take a minute to read the recipe through before you begin. The first time we made these easy chocolate cookies we used some regular chocolate chips we just had on-hand and didn’t bother to weigh the dry goods out, thinking it didn’t matter all that much. That batch of crinkle cookies turned into crinkle pizookies (though we topped them with peppermint ice cream and can't really say we were too distraught over it). After several more test batches, we were finally ready to share our chocolaty-rich Christmas cookies with you. So, two keys to success:

  1. Read the recipe thoroughly before you begin.
  2. WEIGH! Weigh your dry ingredients. It ensures that you’ll be truly replicating our recipe, which should guarantee success.
two plates with chocolate Crinkle Cookies With Peppermint Cream with powdered sugar and crushed peppermint candy

Well, Hello, Peppermint Frosting

What really elevates these chocolate crackle cookies is the peppermint cream icing. We’re talking next-level sandwich cookie deliciousness, with a big slather of icing between the chocolate cookies, and then the whole glorious, festive thing is rolled in crushed up candy canes for a Christmastime treat that looks as good as it tastes. In fact, when the holidays roll around, we’ve been known to make a double batch of the icing itself just to have on hand for things like:

  • Frosting a batch of double-chocolate brownies
  • Slathering over Christmas-morning cinnamon rolls
  • Generously spooning onto graham crackers for an after-school treat
Crinkle Cookies With Peppermint Cream on a plate with chocolate, frosting, and two glasses of milk

Tools You’ll Need to Make Our Chocolate Sandwich Cookies:

  • Kitchen scale. While not an absolute necessity, we found our peppermint crinkle cookies to be way more consistent when measured by weight instead of volume.
  • Stand mixer. Also doable without, but a heavy-duty stand mixer whips the peppermint icing smoother than any hand mixer we’ve tried.
  • Gold baking sheets. Again, not completely necessary, but they are totally swoon worthy.
  • Festive cookie tray. Not that we’d take any excuse to head straight to Home Goods to see what new holiday pieces went to the kitchen department today, but ...

Hostess with the Mostest

Hosting the holidays at your place this year? Here are a few more festive—and easy—recipes to help celebrate the season with family and friends:

chocolate Crinkle Cookies With Peppermint Cream and candy cane pieces

Because Everybody Loves a Crinkle Cookie

Our easy chocolate crinkle cookies recipe have you the toast of your neighborhood cookie exchange? Show us your chocolate crackle-y beauties and tag us @themodernproper and #themodernproper.

💌 Let's Stay Together

There are so many great ways to receive all of our latest recipes, meal tips, and inspiration.

Crinkle Sandwich Cookies with Peppermint Cream

  • Serves:  12
  • Prep Time:  30 min
  • Cook Time:  12 min
  • Calories:  539

Ingredients

Crinkle Cookies

  • 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups packed (10 1/2 ounces) brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Peppermint Frosting

  • 3/4 cup salted butter
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1 tsp peppermint extract, more to taste
  • 8 peppermint candy canes

Method

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325° F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. We recommend using a kitchen scale for this recipe and weighing out the ingredients.
  2. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in bowl.
  3. Whisk brown sugar; eggs; and vanilla together in large bowl. Combine chocolate and butter in bowl and microwave at 50 percent power, stirring occasionally, until melted, 2 to 3 minutes.
  4. Whisk chocolate mixture into egg mixture until combined. Fold in flour mixture until no dry streaks remain. Let dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Do not refrigerate.
  5. Place granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar in separate shallow dishes. Working with 1 rounded tablespoon of dough at a time, from the scoop, drop dough balls directly into granulated sugar and roll to coat. Transfer dough balls to confectioners’ sugar and roll to give each a heavy even coat. Evenly space dough balls on prepared sheets.
  6. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until puffed and cracked and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cool completely on sheet.
  7. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle blade attachment, beat the butter until smooth and fluffy.
  8. Add the powdered sugar a little bit at a time, with mixer running continuously.
  9. Add in the cream and peppermint extract. Whip until completely smooth.
  10. Place the unwrapped candy canes in a zip-lock bag. Using a rolling pin, crush the candy into small pieces. Pour the crushed candy onto a plate.
  11. Once cookies have cooled completely, spread 2 tbsp frosting on the underside of one cookie and top with another. Roll edges into the crushed candy cane. Repeat for remaining cookies.

*The recipe for the crinkle cookies was adapted from Cook's Illustrated issue November 2014

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories 539
  • Protein 4 g
  • Carbohydrates 88 g
  • Total Fat 21 g
  • Dietary Fiber 3 g
  • Cholesterol 87 mg
  • sodium 275 mg
  • Total Sugars 264 g

Crinkle Cookies with Peppermint Cream

Questions & Reviews

Join the discussion below.

or

    Any questions?

    Need to change up some ingredients? Unsure about a step in the method? Click the Ask a Question button above. We’re here for you.

  • Tresa

    These are SOOO good. I gave some to my neighbors and they said they were the best cookies they had ever had! I couldn't stop eating them. I do recommend weighing the dry ingredients like the instructions say because I was lazy and didn't and they were more flat and oddly shaped but I used a biscuit cutter to make them perfect circles and they were beautiful and delicious. A new go to holiday cookie for me!

    Thanks Tresa, So glad you liked it!

  • Sarah

    Oh my god you've done it again! This recipe is SO incredible. The cookie is dense, but the frosting is so light, it's perfection. I weighed all my ingredients like you said, but I will say that no one could eat an entire cookie. In the future I would only make the cookie balls 1/2 a Tbsp. if not smaller instead of the full Tbsp, because when it becomes a sandwich its a lot.

    Thanks for letting us know you made it and love it!

  • Rachael

    These were amazing! And they looked so pretty and impressive! I got so many comments on them at the Christmas party. I will definitely make them again and will make the crinkle cookie just by itself sometime. It was the best crinkle cookie I've ever had-so light and airy and chocolaty! Thanks for a great recipe!

    Yay! Love hearing this. Thanks for commenting!

  • Jen

    These are sooooo incredible!!!! I made them gluten free using Bob's 1 to 1 baking mix - no problem. The frosting was double what I needed (and I even stuffed them!!) so I froze the rest. The one thing I'd do differently is try and minimize the powdered sugar on the bottom of the cookie (the side you spread frosting on). I found the frosting was hard to apply as it slipped off the powdered sugared surface. Thanks for another amazing recipe - and sooo festive. 😋

    Thanks for the tips. Glad you thought they were delicious!