These Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies feature Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark and hot chocolate mix, making one festive holiday dessert.
'Tis the season for cookies! And since we are all baker extraordinaires after months and months of quarantine, these Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies make a delicious and festive holiday treat.
If Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark is a seasonal MUST-BUY holiday treat, you have to give these chocolate and peppermint cookies a try. Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark makes this festive hot chocolate cookie recipe extra special.
Hot chocolate is quite the 'hot' ticket item this holiday season. Have you seen those totes adorbs hot chocolate "charcuterie" boards? Or the super fun hot cocoa bombs?
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It's a twist on a classic cookie. Inspired by my love for Ghirardelli chocolate, these cookies are a twist on the classic Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.
- These are approachable cookies. If you can make the OG Nestle cookie recipe, you can make these - because this recipe is an adaptation! A few festive tweaks make these cookies an approachable dessert, even for non-bakers like me.
- They fancy. The addition of Ghirardelli Peppermint Hot Cocoa Mix and Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark makes them super fancy. If you like fancy looking cookies, check out these Mexican Wedding Cookies with Coconut.
Ingredients
You will need the following ingredients to make these delicious, chocolatey, peppermint-punctuated cookies.
- Sugar - This sweet treat calls for both granulated sugar and light brown sugar.
- Shortening (Crisco) - I love the crisp around the edges you get from using shortening.
- Vanilla extract - Vanilla is pretty classic, but you could consider something similar in flavor profile, like almond extract.
- Large eggs - Because it's what helps hold these cookies together.
- Dry ingredients - Flour, baking soda, salt, the usual cookie suspects.
- Ghirardelli peppermint hot chocolate mix - This will be used to help infuse that peppermint hot cocoa flavor throughout the cookie and give it its chocolatey appearance.
- Ghirardelli peppermint bark bars - A seasonal must for me, and a fantastic add to a holiday cookie.
How to Make Peppermint Hot Cocoa Cookies - Directions
- Add ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, and 1 cup shortening to a mixing bowl.
- Cream sugar and shortening together with a hand mixer until well combined, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 large egg. Mix until combined.
- Add the second large egg and mix until combined.
- Combine 2 cups flour, 1 package of Ghirardelli peppermint hot cocoa mix, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder in a separate bowl. Stir.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl methodically. I add the dry ingredients in four equal-ish additions. After each addition, mix until just combined with a hand mixer. Repeat until the dry ingredients are completely mixed in.
- Chop up those Ghirardelli peppermint bark bars, roughly. Try to keep eating bits and pieces of it to a minimum.
- Add the chopped Ghirardelli peppermint bark to the mixing bowl, and mix by hand with a spoon until just combined.
- Cover with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic wrap down tightly to the cookie batter to keep the air out.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 12 cookies onto a baking sheet, leaving a generous amount of space between each (or however many will fit; I was able to fit 12 at a time on a large aluminum baking sheet).
- Bake for 13-14 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from oven and let sit on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Remove each cookie with a spatula and let cool on a cooling rack.
- Repeat until you've used up all of the dough. Makes 40 delicious and festive AF cookies.
Notes
*You can use butter instead, but I've only made this recipe with Crisco.
**You can use dark chocolate peppermint bark, regular peppermint bark, or a mix of both 🙂 You should also check out this recipe for fudgy brownies using Ghirardelli peppermint bark.
The resulting hot chocolate cookies are delightfully crisp, just begging to be paired with a cold glass of milk. Each bite has a lovely peppermint hot chocolate flavor that's beautifully balanced.
I prefer to chill my dough before baking and recommend you do the same. I find the cookies spread less and turn out more uniform. A cookie scoop is also a must for these uniformly delicious cookies.
Top Tips for the BEST Hot Chocolate Cookies
Tip 1. Use a cookie scoop to achieve evenly sized cookie dough balls. Scoop the dough then level off the excess even with the scoop.
Tip 2. Chill the cookie dough for at least 4 hours before baking to prevent the cookies from over-spreading. Also helps result in evenly sized cookies once baked.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, this hot chocolate cookie dough needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before baking. Chilling the dough beforehand prevents the dough from over-spreading in the oven.
Store hot chocolate cookies in a lidded container at room temperature for up to 7 days. Freeze hot chocolate cookies in a gallon freezer bag, removing as much air as possible, for up to 3 months.
More Sweet Treats
If you tried this Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookie recipe (or any other recipe on Midwexican), please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it turned out in the 📝 comments below!
Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup shortening (Crisco)*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 1 pouch Ghirardelli peppermint hot chocolate mix (This is approximately ¼ cup)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 3.5 ounce Ghirardelli peppermint bark bars**
Instructions
- Add ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, and 1 cup shortening to a mixing bowl.½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, 1 cup shortening (Crisco)*
- Cream sugar and shortening together with a hand mixer until well combined, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 large egg. Mix until combined.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 large eggs
- Add the second large egg and mix until combined.
- Combine 2 cups flour, 1 package of Ghirardelli peppermint hot cocoa mix, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder in a separate bowl. Stir.2 cups flour, 1 pouch Ghirardelli peppermint hot chocolate mix, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl methodically. I add the dry ingredients in four equal-ish additions. After each addition, mix until just combined with a hand mixer. Repeat until the dry ingredients are completely mixed in.
- Chop up those Ghirardelli peppermint bark bars, roughly. Try to keep eating bits and pieces of it to a minimum.2 3.5 ounce Ghirardelli peppermint bark bars**
- Add the chopped Ghirardelli peppermint bark to the mixing bowl, and mix by hand with a spoon until just combined.
- Cover with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic wrap down tightly to the cookie batter to keep the air out.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 12 cookies onto a baking sheet, leaving a generous amount of space between each (or however many will fit; I was able to fit 12 at a time on a large aluminum baking sheet).
- Bake for 13-14 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from oven and let sit on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Remove each cookie with a spatula and let cool on a cooling rack.
- Repeat until you've used up all of the dough. Makes 40 delicious and festive AF cookies.
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