Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cookies have a brownie-like texture, are filled with chocolate chips, crunchy candy cane pieces, and are completely addicting! The ultimate holiday cookie and made in 1 bowl.
The combination of chocolate + peppermint is simply irresistible, especially around the holidays. These Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are the perfect addition to your Christmas cookie tray, along with Snowball Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies, Sugar Cookies and Raspberry Almond Thumbprints!
I adapted this recipe from my Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Cookies, adding a little peppermint extract and crushed candy cane pieces, with a few other minor changes. What we have here is a cookie that tastes like a brownie, with melted chocolate throughout as well as crunchy, sweet candy cane pieces.
The total package and easy to make in 1 bowl!
How to make Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
(This is simply an overview with photos, see below for the full, printable recipe.)
Melt the vegan butter, then add it to a large bowl – I usually just microwave the butter in the same bowl I use for the rest of the ingredients.
Add the sugar and whisk it together with the vegan butter, then add the vanilla, peppermint extract, cornstarch and soy milk. Whisk until smooth. Now add the dry ingredients in this order: flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Stir to combine; the dough will be thick.
Add the chocolate chips and crushed candy cane pieces and use your hands, or a spoon, to incorporate them into the dough.
Roll into large bowls (2 tablespoons each), then flatten slightly on the pan (they will flatten a bit more in the oven). Bake for 10-12 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Tips & Substitutions
- Use dark cocoa powder, if possible – It makes the cookies dark in color and very fudgy. Natural cocoa powder is fine to use if you have it, just know your cookies will be much lighter in color.
- Don’t over bake the cookies – The cookies will be very soft out of the oven, but will firm up as they cool. Over baking will cause the candy canes to melt too much and the cookies will become too hard.
- Gluten free – Try a gluten free mix, I like King Arthur Flour.
- What to use instead of cornstarch – Tapioca starch/flour, arrowroot and even ground flaxseeds will work in place or cornstarch.
- Alternative to vegan butter – They might work with melted coconut oil or another oil, but I haven’t tested it to know for sure.
Are candy canes vegan?
Many candy canes are vegan, but if you are concerned, check the ingredients and do a little research. Wholesome definitely are as well as YumEarth brand. I believe even Brachs are, but I’m not 100% sure.
Check out my Vegan Cookies index for more holiday baking ideas!
Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 cup soy milk *or other plant milk
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder *or regular cocoa, see Notes
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup non-dairy chocolate chips or chunks
- 1 cup crushed candy cane pieces, plus a little more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Melt the vegan butter, then add it to a large bowl with the sugar and whisk well. Now whisk in the vanilla, peppermint extract, cornstarch and soy milk until well combined.
- Over the bowl with the wet ingredients, sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir to combine. The dough will be quite thick, use your hands if needed. Now fold in the chocolate chips and candy cane pieces, leaving some to place on top of the cookies for decoration if you want. Again, you may need to use your hands to really get the chocolate chips/candy cane pieces incorporated.
- Scoop about 2 tablespoons of the dough at a time, roll into a ball, then flatten a bit on the baking sheet. They will spread out more as they bake. Decorate with a few more chocolate chips and/or candy cane pieces on top, if desired.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until they look cooked on top. They will seem too soft, but will firm up as they cool. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
- Store leftover cookies in a covered container for 3-4 days. They also freeze well.
Notes
- Melted coconut oil or another oil would likely work in place of the vegan butter, but I haven't tried it.
- Tapioca starch is fine to substitute cornstarch with, or arrowroot. Ground flaxseeds work as well, just use 1 tablespoon, no need to make a flax egg here.
- Use any non-dairy milk you like, I used unsweetened soy, which is my go-to milk for baking.
- You can use natural cocoa powder, but I prefer dutch processed, because it makes the cookies very striking, and somehow gives them a better fudgy flavor.
- Many candy canes are vegan, but some are not so make sure to check. You can either purchase crushed candy cane pieces or crush your own using a food processor.
Hi we made these today, followed exact recipe and our cookies turned into a huge flat brownie. What did we do wrong? Used earth balance vegan butter just fyi. Not sure why they didn’t bake properly? Any thoughts?
Hi Kimberly. Let’s see if I can help. Earth balance is what I use most often in cookie recipe, so that shouldn’t be an issue. Are you positive you had all the measurements right and measured everything properly? To measure flour, I spoon it into a measuring cup, then level it with a knife. If you simply scoop, you can end up with too much or too little flour, rather easily. I’ve made them many times and never had them come out flat, and as you can see from the other comments, they work for other people as well. I would double check your ingredients, make sure you aren’t leaving anything out and that you have the measurements right. Hope that helps!
these are so yummy, everyone in my family loved them too
Super delicious! My cookies did spread quite a bit more than yours but I am sure to try them again and will figure out what I’m doing wrong (I’m fairly new to vegan baking so I’m going to assume all issues are user error).
I agree with one previous reviewer about reducing the chocolate chips by about 25%—not that I don’t LOVE chocolate chips, but there seemed to be too many for the dough. But otherwise, the flavor is so good!
These are phenomenal. My workplace is doing a “Secret Santa Bake” instead of gifts and my person is vegan. I liked the challenge of baking vegan. Not gonna lie, the consistency of the melted vegan butter had me skeptical but trust the process! They turn out amazing and I will for sure make them again with the other half of the butter leftover. I used sweetened plain almond milk instead of soy.
Hi Jenn. I am so glad you like the cookies and they turned out great for you, ‘secret Santa!’ That’s fun! Thank you for sharing your terrific review and comments! Happy holiday cooking!
Just made these cookies – WOW they are great – did not use a full cup of peppermint candy, did not have enough. Used black Cocoa Powder – super dark and pretty!! Thanks
I’m so glad you love the cookies! They sound beautiful! Thank you for taking time to share your great review and comments!
Loved these! Made them for a holiday party and they were a big hit! I made them about half the size the recipe called for which ended up being a perfect size for what I needed. Will be making them again in the future!
Hi Maggie! I’m so glad the cookies were a hit for the holiday party! Thank you for sharing your fantastic review and comments! I’m glad these will be part of your cookie recipe collection! Happy cooking!
Delicious, but you really need to refrigerate the dough for an hour or so before baking! Otherwise you will get delicious chocolate frisbees!
I never need to refrigerate this dough, but I’m glad you enjoyed them!
I also refrigerated and still got frisbees…delicious, pepperminty frisbees at least?
I was planning to make your incredible peppermint chocolate cake for a holiday boutique treat table but, due to covid, we were asked to not make things that need to be sliced, etc., so I made these cookies instead. They are wonderful! Everyone loves them. Mine are not as pretty as yours, but they taste delicious and were surprisingly easy to make. Thanks for another wonderful recipe, Nora!
I am so glad the cookies turned out wonderful for you, and that everyone loved them! I think these are really fun holiday cookies! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, and happy holiday cooking!
These are amazing. So easy to make and not overly peppermint-y! Thanks for another amazing recipe. You are the best!
These cookies turned out spectacular, thank you for the recipe!
The only thing I would recommend is reducing the chocolate chips by 1/4 cup. ONLY because they don’t need it but there is nothing wrong with 1 cup, more chocolate chips the merrier right!?
These are the best cookies I have ever made. Chewy, crispy, bursting with chocolaty, fudgy, pepperminty flavors. No one would believe they’re vegan! 🙂 Thank you Nora for a winning recipe.
Thanks a lot, April, for sharing your great review! I’m so glad that you love the cookies!
Oh my goodness!! Hands down addicting cookies and the closest I’ve come to an actual brownie textures cookie! Bonus daughter and I had such a fun time baking these! Even with forgetting to buy peppermint extract they had a beautiful flavor! Used Herseys dark cocoa, tiny peppermint candy pieces. She had to take some to her other home for the school week.
Will be making these often! Also added a bit of candies to the top before cooling because we had forgotten to beforehand!!
Sounds like lots of fun! I’m glad that you both enjoyed baking and eating the cookies! Thank you for taking the time to share!
Loved these! Such a nice Christmas treat! This was my first time sharing vegan cookies with friends and family and everyone was pleasantly surprised.
I had a bit of trouble getting them to hold together before putting them in the oven so I added a bit of extra milk. I hope to find the Dutch cocoa powder before I make them again so I can try them extra fudgy!
Hi Julie. I’m so glad you (and everyone else) loved these cookies! Thank you for sharing!
These were so good that I had to make another batch as requested by my non-vegan friends! A little modification: instead of chocolate chips and candy canes, I used 3/4 cup of crushed mint “M&Ms”, rolled the cookies in sugar before baking, and decorated the top with more M&Ms. I also put the dough in the fridge for about 20 minutes before scooping the cookies out so they wouldn’t spread as much. Absolutely delicious!
Hi Emily. Thanks for sharing your delicious & fun ideas! I’m glad you and your friends loved the cookies! Thank you!
These are yumtastic. Will definitely make again.
These are delicious! They might be the best cookie I’ve ever made. This recipe is a keeper for future Christmas baking! Thanks!
You’re welcome!
So chocolatey and so easy. I think next time I will increase the peppermint extract and omit the candy canes so that there isn’t anything getting stuck in my teeth. These spread a lot so make sure you leave space on your baking sheet. Another winner from Nora, thank you!
You’re welcome!
I definitely did not have success with coconut oil lol. I also forgot to put the cornstarch in with the wet ingredients, which could have done it. My dough just won’t stick together – it’s all crumbs. I think they baked up okay but it’s really hard to form the dough balls. Will try again with vegan butter and the cornstarch in the right order!
That’s too bad! I wonder if your milk was also cold, because that makes coconut oil harden, which could lead to a very crumbly cookie dough. Coconut oil is not usually my favorite in cookies! Hope you try again!
Looking forward to making these–you’re amazing! Can this recipe be easily doubled? Thanks!
Thank you so much! Yes, it can easily be doubled.
What delicious cookies! These satisfied the fudgy, Christmas cookie craving I had. I followed the recipe, but for some reason my cookies flattened out completely, they weren’t thick like yours. Any idea what could cause that? They were still super delicious, just didn’t look as good.
Thanks Jillian! Did you make any substitutions at all? The reason they would come out flat is that they didn’t have enough dry ingredients OR you accidentally added too much of a wet ingredient, like too much milk or oil. Make sure to accurately measure all of the ingredients. For flour, I spoon it into the measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. Often just scooping flour results in too little or too much flour, often the culprit of cookie problems. 🙂
These are the best! Definitely will be making these again. Thank you.
You’re welcome!
Delicious and easy to make. We got 15 cookies out of the batch. We had to sub Bob’s 1-1 gluten free baking flour and we used Earth Balance butter. Everyone thought they were great
These are great! I needed a different cookie for the holidays and this was it. I did substitute melted coconut oil for the butter and it worked perfectly. I can’t wait to make many more batches. These will make great christmas gifts!
I’m so glad to hear it!
These are soooo good! The texture & flavor are awesome. I’ve been craving cookies lately, and when this appeared in my inbox this morning and I realized I had all the ingredients on hand, I just had to try them. I’m so glad I did! Thanks for a great recipe ?
You’re so welcome!
Can butter be replaced with apple sauce or tahini?
I’m not sure as I haven’t tried it, but it would change them quite a bit.