Peppermint Shortbread Cookies

This time of year, it would be amiss to not make something with peppermint. It’s often paired with chocolate. I like that combination, but it can be fairly heavy. This cookie is simple: shortbread paired with peppermint crunch chips. Andes makes two types of mint chips, a chocolate mint and a peppermint crunch chip, which is more like white chocolate and peppermint candies. You use the latter in this recipe. They come in a red bag, so that’s the easiest way to identify the right ones.

This is a refrigerator cookie, which is convenient this busy time of the year. You can make the dough and then bake them up later or the next day. They only need to be refrigerated for two hours, so that was enough time for me to run some errands and have dinner and then baked them up. I mixed the dough up in the mixer, but you could also use the food processor. The original recipe said to cut in the butter, but I don’t typically have the best luck doing that.

The dough for these cookies is crumbly, which isn’t that strange for shortbread, but I was worried that the dough would never come together. It did finally come together, but required some hand-kneading. I added food color, and I will admit that I used too much food coloring. I was aiming for a nice pink and these are more than that. The cookies that I sliced thicker fared better when baking, but you can adjust as you prefer. These have a good peppermint flavor, and are very buttery. Be careful not to bake them too long or the cookies will be too crispy.

Peppermint Shortbread Cookies

2½ cups flour

¾ cups sugar

1 cup cold butter, cut in pieces

1¼ cups Andes peppermint crunch chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon peppermint extract

Red food coloring

   

In a large mixer bowl or food processor, combine the flour and sugar. Add the butter cubes and mix or pulse until crumbly. Add the peppermint crunch chips, vanilla, peppermint extract and food color. Stir until the dough forms a ball. 

Divide the dough into two halves. Shape each half into a log, about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap each log of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. 

Unwrap the dough and slice the cookies into slices, ¼” to 1/3” thick. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for about 12 minutes. Cookies will be soft but will set as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. 

Recipe from Mom on Timeout