Peppermint Bark Thumbprint Cookies
These Peppermint Bark Thumbprint Cookies start with a soft, chewy chocolate cookie base and are filled with creamy white chocolate for the perfect festive bite. Crushed peppermint on top adds color, crunch, and classic peppermint bark flavor. They’re easy, beautiful and packed with holiday charm, perfect for Christmas cookie trays or gifting.
Servings: 1 cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup salted butter room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk
- ⅓ cup natural cocoa powder
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp corn starch
- ½ tsp kosher salt
For the ganache:
- 1 cup white chocolate chips or white baking chocolate I prefer Ghirardelli
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- ¼ tsp peppermint extract can add more if you want a stronger peppermint flavor`
- crushed candy canes
Instructions
For the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a stand mixer beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy. Mix in egg yolk.
- Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt, then add to the wet ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms. Scoop 20 even balls of dough and roll until smooth. Press an indentation into each ball with your thumb or a teaspoon.
- Bake 10–12 minutes, until edges look set. Reshape the cookies by gently scooting a bowl or round cookie cutter to make cookies into a perfect circle. Re-press the center while cookies are warm to deepen the thumbprint. Allow to cool completely.
For the ganache:
- Warm the heavy cream in the microwave in 20–30 second intervals until it is just steaming and starting to bubble around the edges, usually about 45–75 seconds total. The cream should be hot enough to melt the chocolate, but not boiling. Alternatively, heat it in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until you see gentle wisps of steam rising.
- Immediately pour the hot cream over the white chocolate, let it sit for 1–2 minutes to soften, then stir until completely smooth. Fill each cookie with the peppermint white chocolate mixture and top immediately with crushed candy canes. Let cookies cool until the centers are set before storing.