Happy National Cookie Day! If you need an excuse to enjoy a cookie, these bite-size peppermint sugar cookies are perfect.
They’re small, festive, and surprisingly easy to make and decorate. What makes them extra charming is how they’re packaged to resemble peppermint candies.
I had some small treat bags I use for cake pops and realized they’d make lovely wrappers for mini peppermint cookies. To fit the bags after baking and decorating, the cookies had to be small — about bite-size — which only added to their appeal.
This sugar cookie dough is one of my favorites because it’s easy to work with. The basic recipe I used is adapted from Bridget at Bake at 350.
I especially love that the recipe uses cold butter, so you don’t have to wait for it to reach room temperature. I’m not great at planning ahead for softened butter, so this method — which also doesn’t require chilling the dough before rolling — is a huge time-saver.
Once your dough is mixed, you’re ready to roll and cut, which is the fun part.
The dough is smooth and sturdy, making it easy to cut neat shapes. I used a 1.5-inch round cutter so the finished cookies would fit comfortably inside the treat bags with space at the ends to tie them off.
If you bake the cookies right away, they may spread slightly. While still warm, you can re-cut them with the same cutter to trim excess and keep them the right size. Alternatively, freezing the cut cookies for a few minutes before baking helps reduce spread. If your baked cookies look noticeably larger than the cutter, trim them down; if they’re only slightly larger, the edges will still look tidy.
After the cookies cool, make a batch of royal icing and begin piping.
I used white for the base and pink for the swirls, but you can use traditional red and green for a holiday look. Start by piping a white royal icing border around each cookie. I added a touch of white gel color to the white icing to make it brighter and more opaque.
Thin some of the white icing with a little water to create a flood consistency. Fill the centers with white flood icing, then add five small drops of pink flood icing around the perimeter while the white is still wet. Use a toothpick to gently pull each pink dot toward the center in a curved motion to form clean, swirling peppermint shapes.
For thicker swirls, pipe triangular shapes of pink that stop short of the center and use the toothpick to curve and smooth each triangle toward the middle. Finish by making a tiny swirl in the center while touching each tip of the pink shapes. Or simply pipe quick swirls for a faster look that’s just as cute.
Once decorated, allow the cookies to dry completely — about 24 hours — before packaging.
To wrap, use small treat bags and twine or twist ties. I used 3×4-inch bags for the 1.5-inch cookies. If you choose a different cutter or bag size, test with a cardboard cutout to make sure there’s enough room to twist and tie each end.
Because the bags can be slippery, I often secure them with a twist tie first so the twine is easier to knot. You can also use twist ties alone — cut them in half or thirds to avoid long ends around the cookies.
After both ends are tied securely, trim the bottom of the bag if you want it to fan out for a more candy-like presentation.
These little peppermint candy cookies are wonderful gifts for the holidays, whether handed out individually or as a small stack.
Peppermint Candy Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
SUGAR COOKIES
- 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1.5 inch round cutter
ROYAL ICING
- 1/2 cup meringue powder
- 1 scant cup (almost full) water
- 2 pounds (32 ounces) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (optional)
- Super white gel icing color
- Pink, red or green icing color
- Small squeeze bottles
- Toothpicks
- 3×4 treat bags
- Twine or twist ties
Instructions
- FOR THE COOKIES: Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Cream the cold butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and extracts. Add the flour mixture one cup at a time on low speed until just combined; the dough will be thick and crumbly.
- Prepare a rolling surface with wax paper and flour. Roll portions of dough to 1/4 inch thick, dipping the cutter in flour and cutting as many circles as possible. Re-knead scraps and repeat as needed.
- Place cookies on the prepared sheet. You can roll directly onto parchment and transfer the sheet if preferred.
- Freeze the cut cookies for about 10 minutes, then bake 9–12 minutes. Let cool briefly on the baking tray, trim to size with the cutter if necessary, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- FOR THE ICING: Make royal icing by whisking the meringue powder, water, and (optional) peppermint extract until foamy. Add sifted powdered sugar and corn syrup; beat on low to combine, then increase speed and beat until glossy with stiff peaks. Tint a small portion pink and add white gel color to the remaining white icing if desired.
- Outline each cookie with white royal icing using a squeeze bottle. Thin some white icing with a few drops of water to flood the center to a thick-syrup consistency; thin the pink icing to a similar flood consistency. Fill the center with white flood icing, pipe pink dots around the edge, and use a toothpick to pull the pink toward the center to create the peppermint swirls. Repeat with remaining cookies and let dry 24 hours.
Notes
Source: Adapted with permission from Decorating Cookies by Bridget Edwards, 2012
I also tried arranging some cookies along twine to imagine them as edible garland — a playful idea for holiday decor.
Edible decorations are so much more fun.