I was looking for a cookie that truly felt like the holidays—something festive, cheerful, and a little bit magical. When I first mixed up these Peppermint Snowball Cookies, the scent of pure peppermint and sweet butter filled my kitchen, instantly putting me in a festive mood. Watching the pale pink dough come together, studded with chocolate chips, felt like wrapping a present. When they came out of the oven, warm and delicate, and I rolled them in snowy powdered sugar, I knew I had found it. That first bite, with its melt-in-your-mouth texture and bursts of chocolate and peppermint, was pure holiday joy in cookie form.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
You will love this recipe because it takes the classic, beloved snowball cookie and gives it a joyful holiday makeover. The combination of crisp, buttery cookie, cool peppermint, rich chocolate, and a festive pink hue makes it an undeniable star of any cookie tray. They’re surprisingly simple to make, impossibly pretty, and have that irresistible “one more” quality that will have everyone reaching for them again and again.
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted sweet cream butter, softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar (for the dough)
- 1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 5-6 drops hot pink or rose food color gel
- ¼ cup finely crushed peppermint candies (for rolling)
- 1 ½ – 2 cups additional powdered sugar (for rolling after baking)
Let’s talk about these ingredients, because a few specifics matter. Using salted sweet cream butter is my secret—it balances the sweetness perfectly. The cornstarch is what gives these cookies their famously delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture; don’t leave it out. For the extracts, pure peppermint extract is non-negotiable; imitation can taste medicinal. The gel food color gives a vibrant, pretty pink without thinning the dough. And crushing the peppermint candies finely is key—large chunks can make rolling difficult.(See the next page below to continue…)