These Peppermint Shortbread Cookies will be the star of any cookie platter. They're all dressed up and ready to party!
I can't take credit for coming up with this recipe, but I wish I could. I found the recipe for these Peppermint Shortbread Cookies in the holiday baking issue (2014) of Taste of Home Magazine.
When I spied these beauties in the magazine, I knew in a moment that these would be the perfect cookies for The 4th Annual (2014) Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap (#fbcookieswap). Yum! I was right!!!
**Please Note - The printable recipe card with detailed instructions, complete ingredient measurements, and nutritional information for making Peppermint Shortbread Cookies is available near the end of this post.
Peppermint Shortbread Cookies Dipped in Chocolate are some of the most festive cookies around. Of course, you don't need to color them with red and green if you'd rather not. But, in my opinion, it makes them all the more fun, and all the more inviting. Just ask Santa!!
The ingredient list;
- Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Peppermint Extract
- Vanilla Extract
- All-Purpose Flour
- Red and Green Gel Food Color (optional)
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Crushed Peppermint Candy
The easy instructions;
- Cream together the butter and sugar.
- Beat in the extracts and the flour.
- Divide the dough in half and color half the dough with red food coloring and half the dough with green food coloring.
- Flatten each dough and wrap in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough out to ¼" thickness and cut with a 1 ½" round cookie cutter.
- Place on baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Dip half of each baked cookie into the melted chocolate and sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies.
- Place on wax paper or parchment paper and allow the dipped cookies to sit until the chocolate is completely set.
What is the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap you ask?
- Good question! It's when a remarkable number of food bloggers from all around the world come together to raise money for The Childhood Cancer Foundation and Cookies for Kids Cancer.
- We do this by each donating $4 to participate. We bake and mail three dozen cookies to three separate bloggers (1 dozen each blogger) that we've been assigned to.
- Then we all post our recipes on the very same day (Today, December 15th) by blog post for our fellow food bloggers, and our readers to enjoy.
It's a great deal of fun and is a great way to be active in the food blogging community and make new friends all for a rewarding cause. In return, we each receive 3 dozen delicious cookies in the mail from other members of our food blogging community. Win! Win!
For additional information and to learn how to join in the fun next year, click HERE.
This year I shipped to Heidi from Awesome with Sprinkles, Rebecca of Bake N' Quilt, and Alice of Dining with Alice. I hope you enjoyed the cookies, ladies 🙂
A fun and festive way to package Christmas cookie for shipping;
- I used leftover ribbon, some natural and some shiny, in addition to wrapping the cookies in cellophane bags.
And these are the wonderfully delicious cookies I received this year...From Sara of The Chef Next Door I received ~ Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate Hazelnut Filling;
And from Leslie of My Kitchen Is Open, I received these ~ Biscoff Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans;
I can't tell you how exciting it was to open each one of these boxes and the delicious aromas that exploded from the boxes each and every time! Thank you very much, ladies! They were all delicious and arrived in perfect condition!
At this time a big Thank You goes out to our two wonderful coordinators of this annual event: Julie of The Little Kitchen and Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil, and of course to our brand partners that helped by matching our donation dollars up to $3,000 ~ Dixie Crystals, OXO, California Olive Ranch and Shelia G's Brownie Brittle.
Incidentally, the grand total we raised this year's Food Blogger Cookie Swap is...(drum roll please)...$12,335.00. That is amazing, and something that is truly worth celebrating!
I'm excited to have been a part of this Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and am thrilled to have played a small part in raising money for such a wonderful cause!!
Naturally, I needed to coordinate this cookie recipe with my hand painted stand mixer Christmas themed wine glass. Cheers to baking for a good cause!
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Peppermint Shortbread Cookies Dipped in Chocolate
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- red and green gel food color optional
- 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate morsels
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¾ cup crushed peppermint candy
Instructions
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the peppermint and vanilla extract.
- Slowly beat in the flour and salt until completely incorporated.
- Divide the dough in half. Tint half with the red food coloring and the other half with the green. *Note - if the dough is too crumbly, add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water per color to the dough and blend.
- Flatten each disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each chilled disc out to approximately ¼" thickness. Use a round, floured cookie cutter (1 ½" in diameter) to cut out as many circles as possible. *Note - the scraps can be re-rolled and cut in the same fashion.
- Place the cut cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet approximately 1" apart.
- Bake in a preheated oven to 10-12 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking process.
- Remove the cookies to a baking rack to cool completely.
- In a microwaveable bowl, melt the chocolate morsels and the butter on medium temperature, stirring often.
- Dip half of each cooled cookie into the melted chocolate; allowing the excess to run off and then sprinkle the crushed candies on top of the chocolate. Place the cookies on parchment paper or wax paper and allow to sit until the chocolate is set.
Nutrition
Should you have any questions regarding this recipe or anything else you've seen on my site, please don't hesitate to contact me directly or leave me a comment in the comment section below. It is always my distinct pleasure to get back to you with a reply just as soon as I possibly can!
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Kudos Kitchen by Renée ~ Cooking up artistically delicious family-friendly dishes from my Kudos Kitchen to yours!
Until we eat again, I hope you have a delicious day!
Nellie Tracy says
I love a good peppermint cookie! These look amazing!
Renée says
They are! I do, too! Thanks, Nellie!!
Sandra says
What a great cause to participate in! Today is my baking day and I was looking for something with peppermint. These shortbread cookies are perfect to add to my cookie tray. Thank you!
Renée says
My pleasure! Enjoy!!
Alice Seuffert says
I'm so lucky to have received your cookies in the swap! They were so delicious! Happy Holidays!
Gingered Whisk says
Lovely cookies! I love peppermint and chocolate together!
Angie Barrett says
The people that got your cookies were very, VERY lucky! I love that they are dipped in chocolate too! oh and can I just tell you how much I LOVE that Mixer wine glass!
Kirsten/ComfortablyDomestic says
How fun and festive are these cookies?! They'd be the star of any cookie tray.
Unknown says
Such beautiful, festive cookies; perfect for the season and the cookie swap ~ Bea @ The Not So Cheesy Kitchen
Nutmeg Nanny says
These cookies are so pretty and festive! I love the red and green dough.
Paula says
Such pretty and festive shortbread and your packaging is lovely. Lucky recipient but at least we have the recipe 🙂 Thanks for sharing Renee.
Erin Dee says
These are so festive! LOVE the bright colors. And that's some cute packaging! The one year I did the cookie swap, there were only two of us in Germany and we each sent our cookies to each other in recycled tupperware. 😉
Nancy Piran says
I loved participating in the cookie swap this year! It was fun! Your cookies look great!
claire @ the realistic nutritionist says
These cookies are amazing! I'm definitely participating next year!
Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez says
Oh, they're so pretty Renee - and your wrapping was beautiful! The ones you received sound scrumptious, as well.
Melissa Bailey says
I participated in the cookie swap too and loved the cookies I got ... I would have loved to get these too 🙂
Paula-bell'alimento says
SO perfect for the holidays! Now I want a cookie!
Martha Pesa says
How wonderfully festive!
Liz Berg says
Oh, these are PURE Christmas! Love these decked out shortbread cookies!
Brenda@SugarFreeMom says
The red and green color is so vibrant and I love the chopped candy cane on the ends, very festive!
Nikki @ NikSnacks says
Those Santas, your glass, and wow---your cookies! All so pretty to look at!
Rebecca says
Thanks for the cookies!