Peppermint Oreo Cookies (Soft, Chewy Holiday Crowd-Pleasers)

Zainab asked me to make "the minty chocolate cookies" four times before Christmas last year, and each time I had to start from scratch because I kept tweaking things. By the fourth batch, I finally had it right — soft centers, a little crunch from the candy cane pieces, Oreo chunks in every bite, and enough peppermint to feel festive without tasting like toothpaste. I wrote the recipe down that night so I wouldn't lose it again.

What I like about this recipe is that it's genuinely simple without cutting corners on flavor. The dough comes together in one bowl with basic pantry ingredients — butter, sugar, eggs, flour, cocoa — and then you fold in the fun stuff at the end. No chill time required, which means if you decide at 4pm that you want cookies by dinnertime, you can make that happen. I don't have a stand mixer, so I do this with a wooden spoon and it works just fine.

These have become my go-to for holiday cookie trays. I make a double batch every year because one batch disappears before I've even had a chance to arrange them nicely. If you're baking for a cookie exchange or want to box some up as gifts — similar to what I do with my fudgy football brownies around game season — these pack beautifully and hold up for several days.

One thing to know going in: don't overbake them. They'll look slightly underdone when you pull them out of the oven and that's exactly what you want. They firm up as they cool and you end up with that soft, chewy center that makes people reach for a second one without thinking about it.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• No stand mixer needed: I make this entirely with a wooden spoon and a large bowl. The butter just needs to be properly softened — leave it out for about an hour before you start — and it creams with the sugars just fine by hand. If you can stir, you can make these cookies.

• No dough chilling required: Most cookie doughs ask you to refrigerate for an hour or more, which I find annoying when I've already committed to baking. This dough bakes beautifully straight from the bowl. You mix, scoop, bake — start to finish in under 40 minutes.

• Soft and chewy with real texture: The combination of cocoa dough, Oreo chunks, white chocolate chips, and crushed candy canes means every bite has something going on. You get the chew from the dough, the crunch from the Oreos, the sweetness from the chocolate chips, and the hit of peppermint from the candy pieces. It's a lot happening in one small cookie and somehow it all works.

• Makes a beautiful gift: These look genuinely festive — the red peppermint bits against the dark chocolate dough, a few white chocolate chips peeking through. Stack them in a tin with some parchment and they look like you put in way more effort than you actually did. No one has to know it was 40 minutes total.

• Peppermint that's actually balanced: The original recipe I tried called for two teaspoons of peppermint extract and it was overwhelming — like biting into a candy cane. I pulled it back to one teaspoon and it hits the right note: clearly minty, festive, but you still taste the chocolate and the Oreo. One teaspoon is where I've landed and I'm staying there.

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened (leave it out on the counter for at least an hour)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (not mint extract — peppermint specifically)
• 10 Oreo cookies, roughly chopped (regular or Double Stuf both work)
• ½ cup crushed peppermint candies or candy canes
• 1 cup white chocolate chips (optional but highly recommended)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven: Set your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. If you only have one sheet pan, that's fine — just bake in batches and let the pan cool slightly between rounds.
2. Mix the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set this aside — having it ready makes the next steps move faster.
3. Cream the butter and sugars: In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with both sugars until the mixture looks lighter in color and feels fluffy. This takes about 2-3 minutes by hand with a wooden spoon, or less than a minute with a hand mixer. Don't rush this step — it's what gives the cookies their soft texture.
4. Add eggs and peppermint extract: Mix in the eggs one at a time, then add the peppermint extract. Stir until everything is fully combined and the mixture looks smooth.
5. Add the dry ingredients: Gradually stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined — don't overwork it or the cookies will turn out tough. Stop as soon as you don't see dry flour patches.
6. Fold in the mix-ins: Add the chopped Oreos, crushed peppermint candies, and white chocolate chips. Fold them in gently so the Oreo pieces stay chunky rather than crumbling into the dough.
7. Scoop and bake: Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The edges should look set but the centers will still look slightly soft — that's correct. Pull them out anyway.
8. Cool on the tray: Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving them. They're fragile right out of the oven and will fall apart if you transfer them too soon. After 5 minutes, move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Tips for Success

• Soften your butter properly: Cold butter won't cream right — you'll end up with lumpy dough that bakes unevenly. I've tried microwaving butter to speed it up and it always goes too far and turns liquid. Just leave it on the counter for an hour. If you forgot to take it out, cut it into small cubes and let it sit for 20-30 minutes — that helps it soften faster.

• Crush the Oreos by hand, not in a blender: You want actual chunks in your cookies, not Oreo powder. I put the cookies in a zip-lock bag and press down with my palm or the bottom of a mug. Aim for pieces roughly the size of a pea — some smaller, some larger. That mix of sizes is what gives each bite a different texture.

• Don't overbake: This is the one I had to learn by overbaking a whole sheet. Cookies continue to cook from residual heat after you pull them out, so if they look done in the oven, they'll be overdone by the time they cool. Set a timer for 10 minutes, check them, and only add another minute or two if the edges still look totally raw.

• Press a few peppermint pieces on top before baking: Roll the dough balls first, then press 3-4 peppermint pieces into the top of each one. They caramelize slightly in the oven and the cookies look much more intentional — like you thought about the presentation, which technically you did.

• If the dough is too sticky to scoop cleanly, chill it for 10 minutes: This occasionally happens if your kitchen is warm or your butter got a little too soft. Ten minutes in the fridge firms it up just enough to handle. I wouldn't go longer than that or the dough gets stiff and harder to scoop evenly.

Variations

• Dip in white chocolate: Once the cookies are fully cooled, melt about ½ cup of white chocolate chips in a small bowl (microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each). Dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate, lay on parchment, and sprinkle a little crushed candy cane on top before it sets. This is the version I make when I'm bringing cookies somewhere and want them to look like I tried extra hard.

• Mint Oreo swap: Use mint-flavored Oreos instead of regular ones for a stronger peppermint flavor throughout the dough itself. If you go this route, consider reducing the peppermint extract to ½ teaspoon so it doesn't become overwhelming. This version is actually Zainab's preference — she likes a very minty cookie.

• Dark chocolate version: Swap the regular cocoa powder for dark cocoa (Dutch-process works well here) and use dark chocolate chips instead of white. The result is a more intense, slightly bitter chocolate cookie that balances the sweetness of the peppermint really well. My husband prefers this version — he finds the white chocolate version a bit sweet.

• Gluten-free version: Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend (Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur both work) and replace the Oreos with gluten-free sandwich cookies — the Glutino brand ones from Walmart work here. The texture is slightly different but still very good. I've made this for a friend who can't have gluten and she asked for the recipe.

• Crushed Andes Mints instead of candy canes: If you can't find candy canes or peppermint candies, Andes Mints (the thin chocolate-mint chocolates you find in most grocery stores) chopped into small pieces make a great substitute. They melt slightly into the dough and give you little pockets of mint-chocolate flavor. This version is a bit less visually festive but tastes excellent.

Serving and Storage

Serving

These are best the day they're baked — still slightly warm, with the chocolate dough soft and the peppermint candy still a little crunchy. I serve them on a flat tray with a stack of napkins nearby because they're a little crumbly at first. For holiday parties, I arrange them alongside other baked things — sometimes my pumpkin pecan crescent rolls — and they always go first. A glass of cold milk or a mug of hot cocoa makes them even better.

Storage

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They actually get slightly chewier on day two, which I think is an improvement. If you want to freeze the baked cookies, layer them between sheets of parchment in a freezer-safe container — they'll keep for up to 2 months. To freeze the dough instead, scoop into balls, freeze on a sheet pan until solid, then transfer to a zip-lock bag. Bake straight from frozen at 350°F, adding 2-3 minutes to the bake time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use regular Oreos instead of mint Oreos?

Yes, and that's actually what I use most of the time. The peppermint extract in the dough provides the mint flavor on its own, so regular Oreos work perfectly. Mint Oreos are a great option if you want an extra-strong peppermint flavor, but they're not required.

Do I have to chill the dough before baking?

No — this dough bakes well without chilling, which is one of the things I like about it. If your kitchen is warm and the dough feels too soft and sticky to scoop cleanly, a quick 10-minute chill in the refrigerator helps. But as a standard step, you can skip it entirely and go straight from mixing to baking.

Can I freeze the cookie dough to bake later?

Absolutely. Scoop the dough into balls and freeze them on a parchment-lined tray until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag. They'll keep for up to a month. When you're ready to bake, put them straight on the sheet pan from frozen and add about 2-3 extra minutes to the baking time. I usually keep a bag of these in the freezer through December.

What kind of peppermint candies work best?

Crushed candy canes are the easiest to find during the holidays and they work great. Round peppermint discs (the individually wrapped ones you see at checkout) also work well. I put them in a zip-lock bag and crush them with the bottom of a mug. Aim for small pieces — not powder — so you get little crunchy bits throughout the cookies.

Can I make these without the white chocolate chips?

Yes — they're listed as optional in the recipe for a reason. The cookies are still soft and flavorful without them. That said, the white chocolate adds sweetness and a creamy contrast to the dark cocoa dough, so if you have them, I'd use them. Semi-sweet chocolate chips are also a good substitute if you prefer less sweetness.

These cookies have genuinely become a December fixture in my kitchen. I make the first batch mid-December just for us, and then I make two more batches before Christmas — one for gifting and one because the first gifting batch somehow gets eaten at home before I can box it up. That's become a tradition at this point and I've stopped fighting it.

What I appreciate most about this recipe is that it doesn't require much skill — just attention to a few details (room temperature butter, not overbaking, chunky Oreo pieces rather than crumbs). Get those right and the cookies take care of themselves. If you're looking for something else to bring to a holiday table, my fudgy brownies are another one that always disappears fast.

If you make these, I hope they get the same reaction mine did — Zainab coming into the kitchen while they're cooling, eating one before I've had a chance to photograph them, and immediately asking when I'm making them again. That's how I know a recipe is worth keeping. 🍪❤️

If you liked this recipe, you might also enjoy these:

• Fudgy Football Brownies — rich, dense, and always the first thing gone at a gathering
• Pumpkin Pecan Crescent Rolls — flaky, spiced, and ready in under 30 minutes
• Cheesy Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole — when you need something hearty after all the sweets
• Pizza Baked Ziti — a weeknight dinner the whole family actually agrees on