Whether you’re headed to a cookie party, need a holiday gift for a friend or a fun activity on a cold winter’s day, these Peppermint Brookies (Brownie Cookies) are a score!
Table of Contents
Why I Love This Recipe
- Quick and Easy: These come together very quickly, only requiring a short chill time. Perfect for short notice events!
- Cookie Swap: For our family, cookies swap parties are a huge part of the holidays. These brownie cookies are great to take. Other great options for cookie parties? Gingerbread Cookies, Holiday Chocolate Chip Sprinkle Bars and Sugar Cookies. You can even include non-cookie treats like Reindeer Chocolate Bark!
- Perfect Combination: Chocolate and mint are the perfect, classic combination. Brookies make a fantastic edible holiday gift for friends, teachers or family!
- Fun Mix-Ins: See below for some fun swaps for the peppermint! There options are endless!
The Ingredients
- Flour: Choose an organic unbleached all-purpose flour. This generally doesn’t have additives I prefer to avoid.
- Sugar: These cookies have only brown sugar, which adds a great depth of flavor to the chocolate.
- Fat: I like to combine both butter and coconut oil in the chocolate. It allows the chocolate to melt really smoothly.
- Chocolate: Semisweet chocolate chips allow you to use less sugar in the dough, and they melt nicely.
- Mint: I use both peppermint extract and peppermint candies to make a really cooling sensation.
Substitutions and Variations
- No mint, no problem. If you aren’t a mint lover, use vanilla instead of peppermint extract and select a different mix-in.
- More mix-ins, more fun. Try mini m&ms or any other flavor of hard candy to make each batch a new experience.
- Swap your oil: If you don’t have coconut oil on hand, canola will also work. If you are using coconut, make sure it is refined so that it doesn’t add a coconut flavor.
How to Make Peppermint Brookies (Brownie Cookies)
Step 1: Melt chocolate and oil in a bowl until smooth.
Step 2: Add flour, sugar, and remaining ingredients.
Step 3: Crush peppermint candies in a bag.
Step 4: Stir crushed candy into cookie dough.
Step 5: Place cookies on a lined baking sheet.
Step 6: Bake until cookies are set and tops look crackly.
Tips and Tricks
- Get Crushing: The easiest way to crush candies is to place them in a baggie and use a rolling pin. You can also use a meat mallet, but you risk tearing the bag.
- Make Your Favorite: You don’t have to mix in peppermint candies, or even any candy at all. These brownie cookies taste great even without anything extra!
- Melting Chocolate: You can use a microwave or double-boiler, whichever is easiest.
- Don’t Skip the Chill: Refrigerating the dough helps the cookies set and bake perfectly every time.
FAQs
You can use a microwave by heating in one minute bursts, stirring between each. You want to stop before all of the chocolate chip “shape” disappears so you don’t burn it. If you want to avoid the microwave, set up a double-boiler with a metal bowl over a pot of water. Make sure steam doesn’t get into the bowl or the chocolate will seize. Again, you can remove from the heat before completely melted because it will finish melting as you stir.
I love red peppermints to keep with the Christmas feel, but you can use anything. Any other hard candy works great, such as butterscotch. You can also use mini m&m-type chocolate or chop up candy bars. I prefer dye-free options, and there are quite a lot out there now, making it easy to find them. Just keep in mind that you might want to swap the peppermint extract for vanilla or anything else that pairs with your candy.
Is brookie a new word to you? It means combining brownies with cookies! This chocolate base has a perfectly crackly top just like your favorite brownies, but is in an easy-to-hold cookie format. Sometimes a brookie is also layered in a pan, where you have layers of chocolate chip cookie dough and brownies.
More Festive Recipes to Enjoy
Peppermint Brookies are the holiday treat of your dreams! Soft and chewy inside like a brownie, a golden outer coating and in the shape of a cookie — it’s one of the greatest marriages of all time. They’re outrageously chocolatey throughout with a big punch of peppermint in each bite. You’ll love them! Let me know what you think — leave a comment and rating below.
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Peppermint Brookies (Brownie Cookies)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon canola or coconut oil
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup candy canes, peppermint hard candies and/or m&m’s, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the butter, oil and 1 cup of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl (or in a metal bowl over a double boiler) and heat in 1 minute intervals until chocolate in melted. Allow to cool.
- In another bowl whisk the eggs, peppermint extract, and brown sugar until combined. Stir into the chocolate mixture.
- In another bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and salt to combine. Add the flour mixture into the chocolate/egg mixture and stir to combine.
- Fold in the remaining cup of chocolate chips and chopped candies.
- Refrigerate the mixture for 10-15 minutes to firm up slightly
- Using a 2 tablespoon ice cream scooper or spoon, place the cookies on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until the tops look dry and cracked.
- Allow to cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. The brookies will be soft and chewy.
Notes
- Get Crushing: The easiest way to crush candies is to place them in a baggie and use a rolling pin. You can also use a meat mallet, but you risk tearing the bag.
- Make Your Favorite: You don’t have to mix in peppermint candies, or even any candy at all. These brownie cookies taste great even without anything extra!
- Melting Chocolate: You can use a microwave or double-boiler, whichever is easiest.
- Not a Mint Fan?: Feel free to swap the peppermint extract for vanilla extract and replace the crushed peppermint candies with another candy of your choice.
Nutrition
Photos by Gerry Speirs
So glad these were a hit! We love them here, too!
These are so delicious! I only used 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint and no chopped candy canes since my LO doesn’t care for them (but she loves these cookies). I also used vegan butter and chocolate chips. Perhaps that’s why the cookie dough consistency was thick and I didn’t need to freeze it before spooning. Made 32 cookies… some for Santa and the rest for us to enjoy!
So glad you loved them!
These turned out perfect! Followed recipe almost exactly:) Left out a little of the candy canes. I was also putting cookie dough in the refrigerator during baking sessions to keep it chilled before baking. I too would rinse my baking sheet in between baking batches and then throw it in the freezer to help the cookies stay chilled:) Thanks for a great new Christmas favorite!!!
My kiddos and I love this cookie! We threw it together this morning as a gift for a play date. Everything worked according to the instructions with the exception of one thing. We didn’t have a problem with the cookie spreading, they look just like the pictures but we did have a problem with the chopped candy canes melting too much, especially around the edges. Any suggestions?
The measurements are correct! The batter comes out thinner than a traditional cookie, so you chill it to help. 🙂
I’m making these for a cookie swap tomorrow and I see another comment about there not being enough flour. Is 1/2 cup correct?
I used pre-chopped candy canes (from WinCo!) and that might have contributed to flatness and spreading. Maybe less finely chopped would work better? (I did freeze for about 15 minutes before scooping/baking.)
So glad you enjoyed them!
I made these today and the cookies are delicious. I did noticed the recipe says Vanilla but obviously it is the Peppermint Extract. I stretched my dough to make exactly 40 cookies. They spread quite a bit and were definitely flatter than hers pictured, also darker. They were chewy like a deliciously undercooked brownie and the peppermint was so good. Don’t try to take off pan until cooled – I was transferring to a rack but lots of bottoms weren’t ready to come off pan. Yums for me tho 🙂
This was a test run for teacher gifts and I’m definitely making more next week. Would love to know if the flour measurement was on the low side, just in case. But overall super yummy as is!!
I love the soft and fudgy texture of brownie cookies! I cant wait to try these with a peppermint twist!
Hello, Do you think I can make the dough today and bake them for a cookie swap on Sunday?
Thank you!
Wow! Nice recipe. Didn’t know about Brookie before. Your recipes are so simple and easy to follow.
I haven’t tried yet with this recipe, but I have had great success with Cup 4 Cup in the past!
Can you recommend a gluten free flour option that would work with this recipe?