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–+ servings
Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies arranged on a white marble counter.

Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies

These festive Peppermint Cookies with Candy Cane Filling and White Chocolate Drizzle are the perfect holiday treat!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 72 cookies
Calories: 89kcal
Author: Ginnie

Ingredients

For Filling:

  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons milk
  • ½ cup crushed peppermint candy

For Dough:

  • 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1 ½ teaspoons peppermint extract
  • 3 ¾ cups flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

For Topping:

Equipment

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare Filling:

  • Mix powdered sugar, cream cheese, and milk until smooth. Stir in peppermint candy, then set aside.

Prepare Dough:

  • Cream together butter and powdered sugar until well mixed using a stand mixer. Mix in egg yolks and extract.
  • Add flour and salt to butter mixture. Mix on low speed until flour is mostly incorporated, then turn up speed for a few seconds until dough comes together.
  • Scoop out generous teaspoon of dough. Roll dough into a ball and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press thumb into dough to make indentation.
  • Repeat process with remaining dough, placing cookies 1-inch apart on baking sheet.
  • Fill indentation with ¼ teaspoon candy cane filling.
  • Bake cookies for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until filling puffs up slightly and cookie bottoms are light brown.
  • Cool cookies for a couple minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Add Topping:

  • Microwave chocolate chips in a small bowl at 10 second intervals, stirring very well between each interval, until melted.
  • Stir in peppermint extract, then transfer chocolate to a piping bag with a small round tip. Drizzle chocolate over cookies.
  • Let chocolate harden before serving cookies. Enjoy!

Notes

I used crushed candy canes for the cookie filling, but any kind of peppermint candy will work.
You should be able to fit 24 cookies on one average-size baking sheet (4 rows of 6 cookies). Bake the cookies in batches, one cookie sheet at a time.
White chocolate melts quickly. Don't overheat it or it will seize up! To avoid problems, make sure to microwave the chocolate in short, 10-second intervals. And keep in mind that there should still be some chocolate chips visible after microwaving ... they will continue to melt as you stir the chocolate.
Instead of a piping bag, you may use a decorating bulb (my fave decorating tool!) or a zip top plastic bag with the corner snipped off.
Check out the info before this recipe card for more tips, related recipes, and more!

Nutrition

Calories: 89kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @HelloLittleHome or tag #hellolittlehome!