Peppermint Mocha Cut-Out Cookie Recipe

'Tis the season for holiday baking!

And nothing seems to put me more in a festive mood for Christmas than the smell of peppermint. These peppermint mocha cut-out cookies will definitely fill your home with the aroma of peppermint and chocolate goodness.

These cookies have a deep, rich chocolate flavor, enhanced by espresso powder, and complemented with a cool peppermint kick. To me, they remind me of Girl Scout Thin Mints with a holiday twist.

For this recipe, these peppermint mocha cut-out cookies have a few key ingredients.

Cocoa Powder

I used Hershey's Cocoa Special Dark Dutched Cocoa. It's just the cocoa powder I had on hand, but and dutched cocoa will work.

Espresso Powder

You can find the espresso powder I used in specialty grocery stores or online. If you're having a hard time finding it in stores, you can use instant coffee granules instead. (The kind that dissolves in water, not coffee grinds.) Because espresso powder is a little stronger than instant coffee, you might just have to add more of the instant coffee to the recipe if you go that route.

Peppermint Extract

Be sure to grab the peppermint extract, not mint extract. Mint extract is more like spearmint and is reminiscent to chewing gum.

Andes Peppermint Crunch

These Andes peppermint crunch baking chips are so creamy, full of peppermint flavor, and hold up well after baking. They have a softer bite compared to crushed-up candy cane bits you might also see in stores.

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Peppermint Mocha Cut-Out Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• 1 tbsp espresso powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ⅔ cup cocoa powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Andes peppermint crunch baking chips

Instructions

Step 1      

In a mixer, cream together butter and the two sugars. Mix until fluffy and well incorporated.

Step 2  

Add eggs, vanilla and peppermint extracts, salt, baking powder, and espresso powder. Mix until it is all well incorporated.

Step 3      

Add flour and cocoa powder, mixing a cupful at a time, to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. After everything is well mixed, the dough should be non-greasy to the touch. The dough should pull cleanly from the bowl.

Step 4

Stir in the peppermint chips.

Step 5      

Roll to 1/4 inch thickness between two sheets of parchment or wax paper. (I love my Joseph Joseph rolling pin because the guides take the guess work out of wondering if your cookies are the correct thickness and evenly rolled out.) After rolling, chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.    

Step 6      

Once the dough is well chilled and hard to the touch, cut out shapes and place them on a parchment paper-lined, light-colored baking sheet.  

Step 7

Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. Remove from the oven as the tops begin to turn matte. Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.

A Few Tips

This peppermint mocha cookie roll-out recipe has very minimal spread after baking. However, because of the peppermint chips, the edges were still a little rough compared to my basic cookie recipe. Reducing the amount of chips to ½ cup would help make smoother edges.

Try to not overbake these cookies. I liked this recipe when the cookies were just slightly underbaked, which took me some trial and error with the cooking time and temperature to get. It left a more brownie texture that I liked.

I didn't flavor my royal icing with anything special, however feel free to add a complementing flavor to your icing if you're feeling festive.

With this recipe, I made this fun batch of Santa's outfit cookies. You can find these cookie cutters here. These are the regular size.