Buttery, soft Peppermint Meltaway Cookies topped with rich peppermint cream cheese frosting and crushed candy canes – perfect for the holidays!
Get your peppermint fix with these recipes! Easiest 3 Ingredient Peppermint Bark, Peppermint Cookies, and Double Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies.
Peppermint just might be my favorite holiday flavor. I would eat pumpkin, gingerbread, caramel, cranberry…. pretty much any time of the year. But Christmas time is really the only time I crave peppermint. When December rolls around, I have to get my hands on some peppermint goodies.
These cookies are so easy to make. The dough requires just 5 ingredients! The key to getting that really buttery, soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture is the corn starch. So yes, there really is a half of a cup in the dough – trust me on this.
The frosting – ohmagosh the frosting – is a cream cheese peppermint frosting you will luuuuuv. It’s rich and creamy and mmmmmmmmm good. Slather a whole bunch of that stuff right on top of your cookies, don’t be shy. And you can throw in a couple drops of red food coloring for a bright, festive pink frosting.
Crush yourself some candy canes and sprinkle those on top while you’re at it. Aren’t they PURRRDY!? If you can stand to share any of them they look gorgeous on a big white platter at a holiday party…
just sayin!
Peppermint Meltaway Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter - softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ¼ cup flour
- ½ cup corn starch
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
- ½ cup butter
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese - softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- red food coloring - (optional)
- ¼ cup finely crushed candy canes
Instructions
- Mix together butter and powdered sugar til smooth. Add flour, corn starch and vanilla and mix again until dough comes together. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Gently press each dough ball with the heel of your hand to flatten slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes, allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
- Make the frosting by creaming together cream cheese, and butter. Mix in powdered sugar and peppermint extract. If desired, mix in a drop or two or red food coloring. Spread over cooled cookies and top with crushed candy canes.
hi tiffany, these cookies look wonderful! Do you use salted or unsalted butter? Thanks, ann
I typically always use unsalted
Can this dough be frozen?
I think so!
Can u freeze these cookies
Yes, you can.
Hello! For some reason when I made the cookies, as soon as I took them out of the oven they were completely flat. Why is that?
Did you by chance skip the chilling step?
The frosting is great, but my cookies are very dry and crumble apart when you bite into it. I followed the recipe. What would cause this? My husband thinks I need to add an egg… Thank you!