Frosted Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Amycakes Bakes | amycakesbakes.com
These peppermint sugar cookies are adapted from our basic sugar cookie recipe, which is almost impossibly soft and tender thanks to Instant Clearjel! This version has crushed peppermint candies for a little mint flavor, then a swirl of vanilla buttercream, and more candy pieces on top. Perfect for the holidays!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 200 grams (1 ½ cups) Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- (optional) 2 teaspoons Instant Clearjel or 1 Tablespoon(s) Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix *See Note #1
Other Cookie Dough Ingredients
- 1 stick (4 ounces) Salted Butter soft to the touch
- 100 grams (½ cup) Sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ¼ teaspoon Almond Extract
- 3 round peppermint starlight candies (16 grams) unwrapped and finely crushed
Vanilla Frosting and decorations
- One 1x batch prepared prepared Vanilla Bakery Buttercream Frosting *See Note #2
- additional crushed peppermint candy to top the cookies
Instructions
Make the Peppermint Sugar Cookies
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
- Whisk the Dry Ingredients until well mixed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (preferred) or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, cream butter and sugar just until the butter is light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed.
- Add the wet ingredients (egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract). Continue to beat on medium--the mixture will separate at first but keep beating just until it comes back together to a more uniform liquid, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- On low speed, slowly pour the whisked dry ingredients into the dough, and continue to mix just until it is fully incorporated and a smooth and uniform dough. Add the crushed peppermint and continue to mix. Avoid overbeating.
- Using a 1-ounce cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet or cookie sheet. (Alternatively, if you don't have a cookie scoop, divide the dough into 13 equal balls--about 2 Tablespoons each).
- Bake the cookie dough balls in the preheated 325 degree oven on the middle or top rack (avoid bottom rack) for 10 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are only lightly golden brown, and the tops of the cookies have lost most of their shine. The cookies will look underdone on top, but they will continue to bake on the tray as they cool.
Frost the Peppermint Cookies
- Prepare the Vanilla Bakery Buttercream Frosting. Using a 1M star tip and a disposable piping bag, frost each cookie with a swirl of buttercream and sprinkle with crushed peppermint
- Store the cookies in an airtight container and serve at room temperature. If the frosted candy cane sugar cookies aren't eaten within 24 hours, store them in the fridge, but bring them back to room temperature before eating. Enjoy!
Notes
- Read my article Instant Clearjel: a Magical Little-Known Bakery Ingredient to see why I think this ingredient is worth having in your pantry. Instant Clearjel must always be whisked thoroughly with other dry ingredients before being added to wet ingredients to avoid clumping. (Make sure what you use is labeled as “Instant"). Instant Pudding mix works similarly as it contains Instant Clearjel (modified cornstarch) as the second ingredient. Adding one of these is optional--these cookies are still delicious but do spread a little bit in the oven without it.
- You will have extra frosting when making the suggested batch size of the vanilla buttercream recipe, but I find it's better to have extra frosting than not enough. Feel free to halve the frosting recipe if you don't need as much frosting on your cookies.
- The amount of peppermint candy may not look like much, but the flavor goes a long way and adds pretty peppermint specs in the sugar cookies.