Snowball cookies are some of the easiest Christmas cookies you could make, and these peppermint snowball cookies are no exception! Candy cane lovers will adore this festive and flavorful variation on the classic snowball cookie. The crushed candy canes in the dough are so small, that they soften up nicely as the cookies bake and cool.
One reader, Lisa, commented: “Thank you for this recipe. It was a big hit at the cookie exchange! One of the guests gushed about how good they would be with hot chocolate. I know several people who love this type of cookie, and all of them said they were delicious… โ โ โ โ โ “
Snowball cookies have been around for ages, and are called by many names around the world. There’s just something so irresistible about these sweet-snow-covered cookies. They’re uniquely buttery and dense with a crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth texture similar to almond crescent cookies. I love all their many variations, and today’s peppermint version is definitely a new holiday favorite. (And these pistachio cookies are always a popular choice!)
While classic snowball cookies often include chopped nuts for added texture, today we’re replacing those with festive candy cane bits.
Here’s Why You’ll Love These Peppermint Snowball Cookies
- Buttery, dense, crumbly shortbread texture melts in your mouth
- Easy-to-make 1-bowl recipe
- Just 7 simple ingredients, and it’s an egg-free recipe
- Sweet minty flavor from crushed candy canes + peppermint extract
- Only 30 minutes of dough-chilling time
By the way, if you love peppermint you’ll want to try these peppermint meltaway cookies next.
Grab These 7 Simple Ingredients
Today’s cookies are mostly butter, flour, and confectioners’ sugar. The confectioners’ sugar not only goes into the cookie dough, but also coats the outside of the cookie for that iconic snow-dusted exterior. There are no eggs or leavening agents in these cookies.
- Butter: Creamed butter forms the base of these shortbread-style cookies.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: A little goes in the dough, and then you’ll roll the baked cookies in the rest.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds flavor, especially if using homemade vanilla extract.
- Peppermint Extract: The cookies’ first hint of mint comes from pure peppermint extract. It’s strong, so be sure to measure carefully.
- Flour: This is the structure of the cookie.
- Salt: To balance out the sweet.
- Crushed Candy Canes (or peppermint candies): You can often find candy cane baking bits in the grocery store around the holidays, but crushing them yourself is a great way to work out some holiday stress…I mean, so I hear. ๐
How to Make Peppermint Snowball Cookies
The cookie dough comes together in just 1 bowl. It will be super thick, to the point where you think it won’t come together. Turn your mixer up and watch the buttery goodness form before your eyes.
The dough will come together, I promise:
Chill the dough for 30 minutes to help that creamed butter solidify, which helps guarantee your rounded cookies stay… well, rounded! Without chilling, your cookies will be snow puddles, and not snowballs. ๐ If you want to have a few no-chill recipes in your holiday cookie lineup as well, these shortbread cookies and spritz cookies are always popular choices.
Use a Tablespoon measure to portion the chilled dough, and then roll into balls:
Unlike lemon crinkle cookies and chocolate crinkle cookies, we bake the cookies first and then we’ll roll in confectioners’ sugar… the best part of this iconic cookie!
How Do You Make the Confectioners’ Sugar Stick?
A double-dusting of “snow” is the key to beautiful snowballs!
After the cookies bake, roll each one in confectioners’ sugar while they are still slightly warm. As the cookies cool, the confectioners’ sugar will melt into them. That’s expected. After the cookies have cooled, roll them in confectioners’ sugar one more time, and they’ll be picture-perfect peppermint snowballs, all dressed and ready for their holiday cookie tray debut.
3 Success Tips
- Use proper room temperature butter. Like when making Christmas sugar cookies or butter cookies, if your butter is too soft when you start, it won’t form a sturdy base for your cookie dough. The cookies will over-spread and taste greasy.
- Make sure you use confectioners’ sugar (aka powdered sugar or icing sugar) in the cookie dough. Granulated sugar causes the cookies to over-spread and they’ll lose their “snowball” shape.
- Coat the cookies with confectioners’ sugar twice, once when warm and again when cool, because the first layer melts like a… well, a warm snowball!
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.
Peppermint Snowball Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 36 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This cookie dough comes together with just 7 ingredients in 1 mixing bowl and only needs 30 minutes of refrigeration before baking. The crushed candy canes in the dough are so small that they soften up nicely as the cookies bake and cool.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (90g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup (40g) crushed candy canes (about 3–4 regular-size candy canes)
Coating
- 1 and 1/4 cups (150g) confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add 3/4 cup (90g) confectioners’ sugar and beat on low speed until sugar is incorporated, then turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until combined and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Next, beat in the vanilla and peppermint extracts on medium-high speed until combined. Add the flour and salt and beat on low speed. The dough will look dry and you may not think the flour will fully combine. Once all of the flour is incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed. The dough will come together. Finally, beat in the crushed candy canes.
- Cover the cookie dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days. (If chilling for 3+ hours, make sure you let the cookie dough sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling into balls. The cookie dough will be very stiff after being in the refrigerator for that long.)
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside. Pour the confectioners’ sugar needed for the coating into a shallow bowl.
- Scoop or roll 1 Tablespoon (20g) of cookie dough per cookie. Roll into a ball and place on the baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies until golden brown on the bottom edges and just barely browned on top, about 15 minutes.
- Coating: Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then very gently roll them in the confectioners’ sugar to coat completely. Place the cookies on wire racks to cool completely. The confectioners’ sugar will melt a bit and get sticky. Once the cookies have completely cooled, roll in confectioners’ sugar again. This is when the sugar coating will really stick.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. See this post on how to freeze cookie dough for more information and a video tutorial.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) |ย Baking Sheets |ย Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowl | Cooling Rack
Reader Comments and Reviews
I made these little gems today and they are delicious. The crushed peppermint is genius. They are a little fussy but worth it.
Hi Sally,
Really enjoying your cookie recipes! I have friends that are gluten free. Can your recipes be substituted with gluten free flour?
Thank you,
Happy Holidays!
Mary Beth Eagle
Hi Mary Beth! Admittedly, we do not have much experience baking with gluten-free flour. Although some readers report using an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free flour in many of our recipes with success, you should expect slightly different results anytime you substitute ingredients.
I am trying to make these cookies right now and they are not forming , its just crumble flour , I have added more butter as well and still nothing , how long should it be in the mixer? I am close to over 1/2 an hour now and no change ? Help please?
Hi Amy! If the dough is really dry, a few drops of water will help bring it together. For your next batch, be very careful when measuring the flour and confectioners’ sugar. Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
If I am going to freeze these, should I hold off on rolling them in the powdered sugar till I bake them?
Hi Tree! Yes, we would wait to roll in powdered sugar until just before baking.
Once I have baked them and Iโm going to freeze them, should I wait to roll them in sugar when I defrost them?
Hi Tree, you can bake these from frozen – coat in confectioners’ sugar just before baking.
I love this variation. Known also as Russian Tea Cakes, I often make them with mini chocolate chips instead of nuts. (As the sister of a someone with a deadly nut allergy, I am aware of the dangers nuts can pose to unspecting cookie lovers.) I love this peppermint version and will add it to my lineup!
I am trying to make a snowball cookie that my sister in law who passed away used to make. It has crushed nuts. (maybe pecans) in it. Can I make this cookie and just omit the peppermint and put pecans in instead. My niece loved these cookies and I would like to try to make them for her.
Hi June, sounds like you would love our pecan snowball cookies recipe! Scroll down to the Try My Pecan Snowball Cookies section of the post. There’s also instructions on the recipe card. Hope these are a hit if you give them a try!
Is it possible to bake these cookies without adding any candy?
Hi Zeny, it is, but you will be missing some of the flavor and texture the crushed candy canes provide. You may enjoy our regular snowball cookies instead.
How do these hold up for cookie boxes? Does the icing sugar coating melt/fade away?
Hi Mary! We haven’t had that issue, but it will depend on the other cookies you include in your boxes. Let us know if you try!
Delicious! Thank you Sally & team! I tried two other similar recipes and didnโt like them at all, but this recipe is perfect. The technique for coating in powdered sugar worked great.
My husband loves these cookies! I’ve made three batches so far, and will probably make one more batch. Seems like a bag of peppermint candies can make 4 batches. Perfect size to enjoy a cup of coffee with; you’ll eat at least 3 cookies with each cup of coffee ๐
These cookies are already a huge hit. The dough is so easy to work with. And everyone loves them. I have had so much fun with the 12 cookie Palooza!!!
These are a new family favourite! I consider myself a “beginner baker,” and these were super easy to make. I made them last year, made them again this year, and I’m about 99% sure I’ll be making them every holiday season after this, too. Thank you for the lovely recipe!
I made these last night, never made or had snowball cookies before so I wasn’t sure what texture to expect. I did everything according to the recipe except I crushed the candy canes myself and so there were some bigger pieces in there. I chilled the dough for 1,5h and had to let it sit for 20 minutes before scooping because it was so hard. Baked for 15 min, they looked right but then I tried one and was surprised how crumbly, almost crispy it was, also not as minty as I anticipated but still good, I just wanna know if this texture is right or did I maybe do something wrong? I have some dough left in the fridge and if so, can I do something to change the texture at this point or not anymore?
Hi Nadia, snowball cookies should be dense and crumbly. Sounds like you followed the recipe correctly!
I messed up somewhere along the line because my cookies were more dome shape than round. I plan to make these for a cookie trading party so any suggestions on how to keep them from falling? Thanks in advance.
Hi Kayt, You didn’t mess up – they should be more dome shape as the bottoms will be flat. You can see what ours look like in the photos.
My cookies taste good but they are very dry Need a full glass of milk with each bite
What did I do wrong?
Hi France, How did you measure the flour and confectionersโ sugar? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much into your measuring cups โ or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Great cookies – easy to make, nice texture and flavor. I wonder if these could be made chocolate by adding some cocoa powder. Would you need to reduce the flour?
Hi Amy, We havenโt tested it, but you could try swapping in some cocoa powder for flour. It may take some tinkering, because cocoa powder isn’t always a 1:1 swap for flour. Let us know what you try!
I made these cookies today and they turned out perfect!!! I can’t wait to add them to my cookie give away Christmas trays!!!
Would plant-based butter work in this recipe? I have vegan family members and a butter swap could make these an easy vegan cookie!
Hi Kristin, We have not tested this recipe with vegan butter but let us know if you give it a try!
Hi! I get all my cookie recipes from here and for every single one Iโve used the country crock olive oil plant based butter sticks and no recipe has failed me yet with it!
I was wondering about the plant based butter as I just picked some up, now I feel excited to use it.
I love snowball cookies and peppermint! So excited to make these. Can you use the store bought crushed peppermint or do these cookies require more texture by crushing candy canes. I have been told that the store bought could melt differently and impact the baking process?
Hi Eveleen, yes, you can use those!
Do you have any tips for crushing candy canes?
You can use this method for nuts or other hard candies as well. I always place the ingredient inside a ziplock bag and crush it with a rolling pin.