Adorable festive candy cane cookies! These delicious Christmas cookies have hints of peppermint and white chocolate throughout every mouthful. They are so CUTE! Brighten up your Christmas party trays with these irresistible peppermint kiss cookies.

I love candy canes. I’m a bit of a candy cane fanatic at Christmas time. Whenever I go into the grocery store and I see peppermint candies of any form I usually buy them. And I buy a LOT. They are so cheerful in vases, on the Christmas tree and…~~in my mouth~~. They just make me happy.

AND…The Hershey’s white chocolate peppermint kiss candies are here! I buy them every single year and set them out in a candy dish.

The first Christmas season I found Hershey’s white chocolate kisses my naughty dogs got into them. I had them out on the living room table in a candy dish and didn’t even think about them. The dogs didn’t show any sign of interest in them the entire day…

BUT! We went to bed that night and….around 2 in the morning I heard suspicious sounds coming from the living room. I went out to the living room and saw both dogs chowing down on all of my peppermint candies! Not only did they eat all of my candies, they also got tummy aches. Ever since that episode I protect my peppermint candies.

So yeah, my Candy Cane cookies never get set out at dog level either, for obvious reasons. Now our toddler is part of the cookie and candy demolition team at our house. These cookies are REALLY cute and really tasty! Doggie, toddler and Santa approved 🙂 And REALLY easy.

Looking for more Holiday baking recipes?

Recently, I made Holiday candies and Mom made holiday Chocolate Roll Cookies for this year’s holiday party season. She also made a couple of foodie gifts that are fun for Christmas. Her Candy Coated spoons are popular and fun for a party or gift.

We have several other Christmas cookie recipes you may enjoy. Almond Joy cookies, Reeses Pieces cookies. Spritz Pressed cookies, sugar cookies, and shortbread are in our archives if you’re interested! We also have a gluten free 3 ingredient Peanut Butter cookies And Peanut butter fudge. Enjoy your holiday baking! Let us know how it goes for you. We are here to help.

Recipe Notes on Candy Cane Cookies:

Name: Candy Cane Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 40
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/8 cup crushed peppermint candy canes, I used 2 full size candy canes and crushed them; 1 cup granulated sugar; 1 egg; 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, softened; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 1/2 tsp peppermint extract; 2 cups flour; 1/4 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt; 2 tbsp milk; small bowl of granulated sugar to roll dough in.

Candy cane cookies are really easy to make. The basic recipe is very similar to a Christmas sugar cookie recipe. Without all the decorating fuss.

TIPS:

I put both vanilla and peppermint extract in the batter in order to make them have a slight peppermint taste but not overpowering.

This recipe requires 1 package of Hershey’s kisses candy cane candies (8 oz bag) . You may find them at your grocery store but hurry! They tend to go fast during the holidays.

You will need 1/8 cup crushed peppermint candy canes (I used 2 full size candy canes and crushed them) I also crushed up two candy canes and I put the powder from them into the cookie dough. I really liked the way they turned out.

These cookies have a little bit of chewy crunch when you bite into them, and really yummy peppermint flavor. Once they are finished baking just let them cool 2-3 minutes and you can pop an adorable candy cane kiss on the top to finish them off!

Christmas cookies Party Theme Idea:

I colored half of my dough red with Wilton gel food coloring so they would be extra cute on a serving tray. I Love the way they turned out!

Make ahead Directions:

This dough can be tightly wrapped and refrigerated up to five days before baking.

To Freeze this cookie dough:

Make them into balls and line a baking pan with parchment.
Arrange the balls on the parchment and freeze on the baking sheet until solid.
Then put them into a freezer bag.
Suck out as much air as you can.
Now label the bag and freeze up to three months.

To bake:

Arrange the frozen cookies on your baking sheet and bake as directed.
You will probably need to add a few minutes to the bake time.
Cool the cookies and place the candy on the cookies top as directed.

Your Printable Candy Cane Cookies Recipe Card:

40 cookies

Candy Cane Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Adorable and festive candy cane cookies! These delicious little cookie bites have hints of peppermint and white chocolate throughout every mouthful. Brighten up your Christmas party trays with these delicious peppermint cookies.

Ingredients

1/8 cup crushed peppermint candy canes, I used 2 full size candy canes and crushed them
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk
small bowl of granulated sugar to roll dough in.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F
Cream together the butter, sugar, and egg. Add in both extracts and blend together.
In another bowl, add flour, baking soda, and salt, stir dry ingredients together.
Beat flour mixture into the wet ingredients, alternate adding in the milk.
Finally, stir the crushed peppermint into the batter.
At this point, you may separate the dough in half and color the dough with food dye if you want different colored dough.
Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in a bowl of granulated sugar.
Place on a ungreased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Pull the cookies out of the oven and let them cool on a baking rack for 2-3 minutes before pressing a Hershey's kiss into the top of the cookies.