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Peppermint Cheesecake Cookies are soft-baked, light & fluffy cheesecake cookies with peppermint! Topped with a simple peppermint glaze and crushed candy cane. These little cookies are hard to resist and perfect for Christmas baking.
PEPPERMINT CHEESECAKE COOKIES
December hits me so hard every year! Like I think I have it all together and then I quickly realize that my “ship” is on fire 🙂 I had big plans to bake all the things and instead I have made one thing. Which happens to be these irresistible peppermint cheesecake cookies.
If you love peppermint and you love soft, pillowy, cloud-like cookies then you must make these!
HOW TO MAKE THESE PEPPERMINT COOKIES
- Using a stand mixer, or a handheld mixer, beat together butter and cream cheese. This recipe calls for an entire block (8 oz) of cream cheese. It’s what makes these cookies ‘cheesecake’ and it makes them so soft!
- Add in some sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Don’t confuse peppermint extract with mint extract. Be sure you are using peppermint extract for these cookies.
- Add in the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- The dough will seem too soft and somewhat sticky, but that’s ok! Use a cookie scoop or a large spoon to drop spoonful’s of dough onto a cookie sheet. As they bake they puff up so perfectly round and are so pretty.
- After the cookies have cooled make the simple glaze and drizzle it over the cookies. Immediately sprinkle some crushed candy cane on top.
MY HELPFUL TIPS FOR THIS PEPPERMINT RECIPE
- The dough is more wet and somewhat stickier than traditional cookie dough. Don’t be tempted to add any additional flour. As these cookies bake, they puff up perfectly round and are like little clouds.
- Do not overbake! It may seem obvious, but it’s so important. Mine were done at the minimum time listed in the recipe. You don’t want the cookies to have any browned color on them. They should be puffy, round cookies that are still very pale. They should not look wet on top, so make sure you watch for that before pulling them out.
- To crush the candy cane, place the unwrapped candy cane into a Ziploc bag and smash it!
- Depending on what milk you use in the glaze, you may need more or less to get that right consistency. Higher fat milks will need more while lower fat milks will need less to make the glaze the right consistency.
- The easiest way to glaze the cookies is to pour the glaze into a Ziploc bag and then snip a small piece of the corner off. This will create those pretty glaze lines you see.
TRY THESE OTHER PEPPERMINT CHRISTMAS RECIPES
- peppermint bark pretzel bites
- white chocolate peppermint pudding cookies
- peppermint crunch sugar cookies
Peppermint Cheesecake Cookies
Peppermint Cheesecake Cookies are soft-baked, light & fluffy cheesecake cookies with peppermint! Topped with a simple peppermint glaze and crushed candy cane. These little cookies are hard to resist and perfect for Christmas baking.
Ingredients
Peppermint Cheesecake Cookies
- 1 bar (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Peppermint Glaze
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1-3 tablespoons milk
- 1 drop red food coloring
- 1 candy cane, crushed
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, silpat liner, or spray with cooking spray.
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In a bowl of a stand mixer, or a bowl with a handheld mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until light in color and fluffy. About 1 minute.
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Add the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Mix until combined.
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Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined. Start on low speed (so you don't get a puff of flour) and then increase speed as needed.
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Using a cookie scoop, or large spoon, drop dough balls on to the cookie sheet (12 per sheet and about 1 1/2 tablespoons per dough ball) and cook for 10-13 minutes. Cookies should be round and puffy, still very pale in color, and no browned parts on the tops.
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Let cool completely before glazing.
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TO MAKE THE GLAZE: Combine melted butter, powdered sugar, peppermint extract, milk, and red food coloring into a small mixing bowl. Mix until combined and it's the right consistency to drizzle over the cookies. You don't want it thick. Add more or less milk to get desired consistency.
Immediately sprinkles some crushed candy cane over the glaze. The glaze does harden on the cookies (just let them sit at room temperature for an hour or so) if you need to transport them or stack them for cookie plates.
Recipe Notes
If using unsalted butter then increase the salt to 1/2 teaspoon
I know there is cream cheese in these cookies but I have never had a problem leaving extras out at room temperature. They stay soft for days and are so yummy even on day 2. Do what you feel is best as far as storing these at room temperature vs. the fridge.
recipe adapted from Somewhat Simple
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