Irresistibly soft, buttery, and sweet, these peppermint meltaway cookies are a festive favorite during the holiday season. Their texture is so unique; it’s a cross between a shortbread cookie and a cakey cookie, and they completely melt in your mouth. The cornstarch and confectioners’ sugar are KEY here, and don’t forget that pretty pink candy cane buttercream!
One reader, Nicole, commented: “Fantastic recipe! Will definitely be making these again. The cookies are a perfect soft and crumbly texture. The peppermint is the perfect amount as well. ★★★★★“
Another reader, Jane, commented: “Great recipe, easy to make, and the texture was, indeed, melt-in-your-mouth. Intended to give these away, but they didn’t last that long. ★★★★★“
You know those meltaway after-dinner butter mints you sometimes see at restaurants… individually packaged, piled in a basket by the door, beckoning you to grab one on your way out? They’re buttery smooth, melt in your mouth, and leave behind a sweet but not overpowering taste of peppermint. Imagine those… but in cookie form. Now add frosting.
These cookies are downright delectable!!
Peppermint Meltaway Cookies Recipe Snapshot
- Texture: They’re called meltaways for good reason! These ultra-soft, light and tender cookies practically melt in your mouth. Think: softer than a peppermint snowball cookie, and less cakey than these buttercream-frosted soft cakey sugar cookies, and not at all chewy. A little crushed candy cane crunch on top adds another dimension of texture.
- Flavor: Peppermint extract in both the cookie dough and the buttercream adds the perfect pop of peppermint flavor.
- Ease: This is a simple 1-bowl cookie dough, and the buttercream topping is very basic (but delicious!). Easy enough for beginner bakers and cookie decorators.
- Time: The dough only needs to chill for 30 minutes. Compared to other cookie recipes that include hours-long chill times, this is relatively quick!
Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:
To create the ultimate soft cookie texture, you need some key ingredients:
- Butter: A buttery soft cookie starts with creamed butter. Remember that room-temperature butter is essential for proper creaming, and is still cool to the touch. And here’s more on how to cream butter and sugar, if you need a refresher.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Using powdered instead of granulated sugar contributes to the cookie’s meltaway texture.
- Egg Yolk: While shortbread-style cookies like snowballs don’t include any egg, you need an egg yolk to keep these cookies from being too crumbly. It holds the ingredients together, and adds a bit of richness to the finished cookies.
- Vanilla + Peppermint Extracts: The flavors you’ll taste in these cookies!
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base dry ingredient.
- Cornstarch: Just like in my shortbread cookies, cornstarch makes for an extra-soft, thick, silky-smooth-tasting cookie.
- Baking Powder: This helps the cookies puff up during baking.
- Salt: To balance all the flavors; use regular table salt.
You need an electric mixer—either stand or hand—to make these peppermint meltaway cookies. You’ll need to cream the butter for the cookie dough, and for the buttercream frosting, as well.
Good news: you can make this cookie dough all in one bowl!
This cookie dough only needs a minimum of 30 minutes of chill time in the refrigerator, so you won’t have to wait too long to taste that sweet, melty peppermint goodness.
Tips for Shaping Peppermint Meltaway Cookies
Scoop, roll, and flatten. Each cookie is around 1 Tablespoon of cookie dough, so you can use your Tablespoon measuring spoon to portion out each cookie. If you have a kitchen scale, each cookie dough ball should weigh about 20–22g.
Be sure to slightly flatten the dough balls. You can flatten with the palm of your hand right on the lined baking sheet, or between both your palms before placing on the baking sheet. These cookies puff up but don’t spread much, and we want to encourage them to bake up with a flat surface for frosting.
Bake just until the edges are set. These cookies stay light in color, so you’re not waiting for them to turn golden brown.
Peppermint Buttercream Frosting
While the meltaway cookies are cooling, you can go ahead and make the frosting using the electric mixer again. I tint the frosting light pink with a drop of pink gel food coloring. I always use gel food coloring in frostings, because adding more liquid can throw off the consistency. However, with such a small amount of coloring, liquid food dye would be fine here.
And, of course, you don’t have to tint the frosting at all! Feel free to keep it white, like I do with these peppermint frosted chocolate cookies. Spread it onto the cooled meltaway cookies; feel free to pipe it on top, but I just use a knife or small icing spatula.
To garnish the cookies, you can use:
- Crushed candy canes
- Chopped Andes mints
- Sprinkles
Is there anything better than a frosting-covered cookie? That’s a rhetorical question. I’m not taking answers at this time. 😉
Sally’s Cookie Palooza
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page including:
And here’s my video tutorial & guide for how to freeze cookie dough.
Peppermint Meltaway Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: 30-32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Irresistibly soft, buttery, and sweet, these peppermint meltaway cookies are a festive favorite during the holiday season. Their texture is so unique; it’s a cross between a shortbread cookie and a cakey cookie, and they melt in your mouth. The cornstarch and confectioners’ sugar are KEY here. Don’t skip chilling the dough for 30 minutes, and be sure to slightly flatten the dough balls before baking as instructed.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup (80g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Buttercream
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1–2 Tablespoons milk, at room temperature (dairy or nondairy)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
- optional: 1 drop red or pink food coloring
- 1/4 cup (40g) crushed candy canes (about 2–3 large candy canes)
Instructions
- Make the cookie dough: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract and beat on high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Beat on low speed until combined. The cookie dough will be thick and creamy. Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this creamy cookie dough.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop and roll dough into balls, about 1 Tablespoon or 20–22g each. Place dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheets, and then flatten each slightly with the palm of your hand; they should be just under 2 inches in diameter.
- Bake the cookies for 13–14 minutes or until the edges appear set. The cookies won’t darken/brown, so be careful not to over-bake them.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Make the buttercream: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed and beat for 2 full minutes. Taste. To thicken the buttercream, beat in more confectioners’ sugar. To thin out the buttercream, beat in more milk. To help offset more sweetness, beat in a pinch of salt.
- If you’d like to tint the frosting, beat in 1 tiny drop of food coloring. Add more to deepen the color, if desired. Using a knife or icing spatula, spread frosting onto the cooled cookies. Sprinkle each lightly with crushed candy canes.
- Cover and store frosted cookies at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Frosting “soft-sets” on the cookies after a few hours, meaning it will slightly dry on top.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can freeze the unbaked flattened cookie dough balls for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding a minute or two to the baking time. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough. We do not recommend freezing the baked cookies; the texture is not the same after freezing and thawing.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack | Small Icing Spatula
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch (aka cornflour) is a key ingredient in this recipe, and is what helps give the cookies their signature “meltaway” texture. Do not skip or substitute it. (Not to be confused with cornmeal.)
- Food Coloring: I use 1 drop of pink gel food coloring. I always use gel food coloring in frostings, because adding more liquid can throw off the consistency. However, with such a small amount of coloring, liquid food dye would be fine here.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
- Recipe inspired by Taste of Home and adapted from Shortbread Cookies
Reader Comments and Reviews
Oh my goodness these cookies are literally INSANE. I made them without peppermint and instead of a frosting I made a vanilla glaze (not a fan of buttercream lol), and goodness gracious these cookies literally melt in your mouth. The flavour and texture are amazing!!
(I’m so grateful for the grams measurements btw, I love using a scale compared to cup measurements)
Another great cookie recipe! I made these to pass around at the football game and everyone loved them. Followed the recipe as written. Thank you. I’m so glad I found your website.
This recipe is phenomenal! I make cookie boxes for Christmas and this was my absolute favorite cookie this year. I ended up having to double the frosting recipe because I piped it on the cookies and ran out. I’m not mad about it! The frosting is the star of this recipe and pairs so we’ll with the tender cookie. I will definitely make this again!
I missed the star rating!! Thanks again for the great recipe!
These cookies were a hit! I made them to take for Christmas dinner and I nearly didn’t let them out of my house the moment I tasted that peppermint buttercream! Somehow I took them anyway and everyone raved about them! Thanks Sally!
Absolutely delicious! Texture is soft, and the flavor is the perfect balance of mint and sweet. This recipe is going to become an annual tradition!
I weighed out all the ingredients, chilled for a few hours and the dough was so dry. It cracked and crumbled when I was trying to make the balls and the cooked cookies were very dry and chalky. Flavor was fine but the texture was an absolute no. They went in the trash. I think may be the only recipe I’ve ever used from Sally that simply did not work.
Hi Amanda, so sorry to hear this! We’d love to help troubleshoot. Did you make any ingredient substitutions? Do you live in an exceptionally dry climate? Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
These are beautiful and delicious. So different than the rest of my cookie tray, they are a special addition.
These were great! So tender and the frosting put them over the top. First pan turned out so good. Forgot to flatten cookies on second sheet but did so after they had been in the oven for a bit which must have caused them to crack around the edges and were quite crumbly as a result. They’ll still get eaten for sure. Used just a bit less peppermint extract than called for but for us it was perfect. These will be on next year’s cookie list.
The first time I attempted this, I weighed out 250g of flour and the dough was way too floury. The second time I spooned and leveled the flour, and when I weighed the two cups of flour, it was 206g. With that amount, I think the cookies turned out as intended. Yield was 26 cookies for me. Good peppermint butter cookie.
Melt in your mouth! Hi Sally, Thank you for all of the delicious recipes. I have made this recipe 2X. Each time I had cracks around the edges and the end result is not as smooth looking. I weighed the ingredients both times. Any ideas what would cause the cracks on the edges? This time I did not chill the dough, there was no spreading whatsoever. Regardless they are delicious, I slightly underbaked them and they truly do melt in your mouth. Happy Holiday!
Hi Kendra, are the cracks appearing when you slightly flatten the dough balls before baking? Make sure to do it very gently. It also sounds like there may be too much flour in your dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Im not totally sure how I feel about these! They’re easy to make and I get the crumbly/melt but I think if they were a bit more cakey the texture would be more pleasant. Flavor is good. I weighed ingredients, weighed dough balls, and I only got 26 cookies like other commenters.
These cookies are fabulous! Can I freeze iced and candy cane topped baked cookies? If yes, any tips?
Hi Mary, you sure can! See the recipe notes for make ahead and freezing instructions.
These are utterly amazing!! I made these for our annual family holiday baking get together and I will definitely be making these every year from now on! Thanks for another amazing recipe!
Trying to figure out what I did wrong with this recipe. Checked all ingredients and measurements as I felt the batter was dry. While the frosting is amazing my cookies are very dry. Any idea what I should do differently??
Hi Susan, how did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post. Hope this helps for your next batch if you decide to give these another try!
Wow! I made these today to rave reviews all around. It was simple enough that my 6 year old son was able to help me and so quick that we were able to get these done over a quick lunch time visit with my parents. I tinted the icing with one tiny drop of red food coloring and it came out a beautiful super light pink just like the picture. I used crushed up candy canes along with some white, red and green sprinkles. They are festive, beautiful and delicious. These are going to be a Christmas staple from now on. Another winning recipe from Sally!
I just finished making these and they were amazing! I did double the amount of peppermint extract in both the dough and the icing, and it was perfect without being overbearing. Another great recipe, thank you!
These came out really chalky, and I measured everything carefully (I actually weighed my flour and cornstarch). I’m so bummed! This is the only recipe I’ve ever had trouble with on this site.
Hi Ashley, how did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post. Hope this helps if you decide to give these another try!
Can I make these in bars?
Hi Bonnie, we haven’t tried making these cookies as bars, but you could certainly use peppermint extract in these frosted sugar cookie bars!
These were delicious!! But my cookies flattened completely while baking…I improvised and was able to use a small cookie cutter to salvage them. Where did i go wrong?
Hi Holly! Here’s our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading.
I followed the recipe exact and doubled it but my cookies turned out dry and chalky; crispy instead of soft. Where did I go wrong?
Hi Rachel, how did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Very delicious! Only issue I had was the yield. The recipe said 30-32 cookies, I measured all the ingredients by grams and my yield came out to 25 cookies exactly following the directions to scoop 20g per cookie
Great recipe! Everyone who liked peppermint (at a party where I shared them)thought these were delicious, and the texture mimics the popular store brand of thick frosted cookies. The frosting recipe is great for being able to stack 2-3 on top of each other after they’ve dried for a while, but it still remains soft enough without cracking or separating. As usual with Sally’s recipes-it’s a keeper!
Very easy to make, and turned out so well.
These melt aways came out amazing. Subbed the Andes mints for the top and made a light mint colored frosting. Lots of compliments and was asked for the recipe. I’ll make them again.
What a unique cookie! Loved the buttery flavor. I think next time I will double the peppermint extract in the cookie and/or the icing just to increase the “buttermint” effect. I also added a tablespoon of applesauce at the end because the dough seemed dry and not creamy like the recipe described. I’ll be adding this to my holiday cookie gift plates!
This recipe is delicious. I only chilled the dough for 1 hour and it worked great. I will be baking these cookies again before Christmas!
Melts in your mouth.
Can I use Almond flour instead of regular flour?
Hi Kathy! We don’t recommend almond flour here.
Will definitely make these again! The peppermint flavor is perfect, fairly subtle and not overwhelming. The cookies melt in your mouth and the frosting is so buttery! They are also so so pretty! I added a tiny bit of pink edible glitter after sprinkling on the candy canes and they look MAGICAL.
Edible glitter is such a fun addition to these, Sabrina!
These turned out great! My daughter hates mint so we swapped the mint extract for almond and did vanilla buttercream. It’s a cute cookie that doesn’t take a lot of time to decorate and will get added to our recipe book.