White Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Sugar Cookies
A simple twist on a classic holiday cookie from Twin Cities food blogger greens & chocolate. A must-have for any cookie plate this holiday season!
Growing up, my family gathered together every year for our annual Christmas sugar cookie baking and decorating. We would turn up the Christmas jams, break out all the cookie cutters and Christmas sprinkles, and spend hours baking and decorating cookies.
Typically, it was my grandpa’s job to roll out the dough, while the rest of us would cut the cookie shapes, bake and decorate. While it didn’t necessarily feel like a lot of work at the time (probably because it was also fun!), making cut-out sugar cookies proves to be a time-consuming process!
These days, I don’t have much patience for cut-out sugar cookie baking and decorating. I’m sure I’ll bring back the tradition in a year or so when our kids can join in on the fun, but it’s not something I enjoy doing alone. Not only do I lack the skills to create pretty cookies, but rolling out the dough and cutting the shapes takes a lot of time!
This is where the drop-dough sugar cookie comes in. Tastes like a sugar cookie and no cookie cutters. It’s a win-win.
Even better, I skipped the fancy decorating and just dipped the cookies in white chocolate and sprinkled them with crushed candy canes. Simple, pretty and delicious!
Since one of my favorite flavors of the holidays is peppermint, I didn’t just settle for plain sugar cookies. I added a touch of peppermint extract to the cookie dough and it was just enough to let the peppermint flavor shine through.
We all absolutely loved these festive cookies! The cookie alone is delicious enough that you don’t necessarily NEED the white chocolate and crushed candy canes, but they add such a nice touch that I think it’s worth the extra steps. If you’re a fan of peppermint and sugar cookies, these need to be added to your Christmas baking list!
White Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies
Preparation time: 1 hour
Ingredients
2 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups white granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon shortening
⅓ cup finely crushed candy canes
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; whisk to combine.
- In a large bowl with electric mixer, beat sugar and butter until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Add egg and egg yolk, one at a time, beating well between each addition.
- Add vanilla and peppermint extracts and beat to combine.
- Add dry mixture to wet ingredients and beat until well combined.
- Scoop out dough, about 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons at a time, and shape into cookie dough balls.
- Place on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until edges are set but the middles appear slightly under-baked. They will set up!
- Let cool for 5 minutes on pan, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cookies are cooled, combine white chocolate and shortening in a microwave safe bowl.
- Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring well between each interval, until white chocolate is melted.
- Dip each cookie in the white chocolate and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
- Let cool completely at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.