These Peppermint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies are soft, chewy Christmas chocolate cookies topped with peppermint Hershey kisses – one of my favorite little holiday candies! They are delicious and will make you the hit of your holiday cookie exchange!
If you like thumbprint cookies as much as I do, you should also try these delicious Peanut Butter Blossoms!
There are few things that I’ve been loving more than peppermint for the holidays. When I was pregnant last year, all of sudden I craved all things peppermint and that hasn’t really gone away. I’m still totally in love with peppermint flavored things for Christmas!
So when I decided to make a chocolate thumbprint cookie, I knew they needed to be topped with the candy cane Hershey kisses. I think of all the little peppermint candies out there, those might be my fave. Such great flavor and I love the little crunchy things in them. So good!
Naturally when you combine a delicious chocolate cookie with a delicious peppermint kiss, you’ve got a fabulous cookie on your hands that’s totally worthy of your cookie tray!
To get started making these little drops of Christmas cookie heaven, you’ll want to cream the butter and sugar together until it’s lighter in color and fluffy in texture. I used both regular and brown sugar in these cookies. I often find that brown sugar offers a deeper flavor and more moisture and they definitely add to these chocolate thumbprint cookies.
Next up you’ll add your egg and vanilla extract, then the dry ingredients. When the cookie dough is ready to go, roll it into large tablespoon sized balls, then roll the balls in a little sugar. After placing the ball onto a cookie sheet, press a little indent into the center of the cookie – a “thumbprint”. It will fill back in a good bit when baking, but it’ll give you a spot to add your hershey kiss later.
The cookies bake for just 6-7 minutes and once they are done, you can add your peppermint kiss.
The final Peppermint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies are not only pretty, but delicious! So wonderfully soft to bite into, with the crunch of the hershey kisses. I love the chocolate and peppermint flavor combination – just perfect!
You might also like:
Candy Cane Cookies
Peppermint Cheesecake Brownie Trifle
Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread Cookies
Peppermint Chip Layer Cake
Peppermint Espresso Brownie Cheesecake
Chocolate Peppermint Biscotti
Peppermint Chocolate Pancakes
Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 26-28 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Peppermint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies are soft, chewy Christmas chocolate cookies topped with peppermint Hershey kisses. Perfect for cookie exchanges!
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp (140g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (112g) brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 cup (104g) sugar, plus 3 tbsp for rolling
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups (163g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (57g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 26–28 Candy Cane Hershey’s Kisses
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugars (minus the 3 tablespoons of sugar for rolling) together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Mix in egg and vanilla extract.
5. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated and thick.
6. Roll one tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough. (NOTE: If you make larger balls of cookie dough, the cookies will spread more.)
7. Put the 3 additional tablespoons of sugar into a small bowl and roll each ball of cookie dough in it, coating the ball fully, then place the cookie dough balls on the lined cookie sheet.
8. Bake the cookies for 6-7 minutes.
9. Remove the cookies from the oven and press an unwrapped hershey kiss into the top center of each cookie. Allow cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes, the remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
The cookie dough can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 3 days. While you don’t have to refrigerate the cookie dough before baking, I do find that if you refrigerate it for about 24 hours first, the cookies bake even more soft, thick and chewy.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 92
- Sugar: 6.7 g
- Sodium: 70.1 mg
- Fat: 4.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 11.9 g
- Protein: 1.2 g
- Cholesterol: 17.5 mg
Keywords: peppermint chocolate thumbprint cookies, chocolate thumbprint cookies, christmas cookies, cookie exchange recipe, peppermint cookies, chocolate cookies
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Enjoy!
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Just made these. Used a small cookie scoop to form balls, ended up with 32 cookies. Waited 2 min before I removed from cookie sheet and placed kisses on them without any issues. I did bake for 8 min and I ended up with a soft cookie which had a fudge like flavor. Perfect..thanks for posting.
Ps..I added one teaspoon instant coffee to my batter to enhance the chocolate.
So glad you enjoyed them!
★★★★★
Delicious! My 1″ cookie balls made 70 cookies so make sure you have lots of unwrapped kisses on hand! I put mine in the freezer before baking the cookies and they kept their shape when pushed into the hot cookies.
★★★★★
I love these. The chocolate and peppermint go together for the holidays better than chocolate and peanut butter, which are year round cookies.
So glad you enjoy them!
My Hershey kisses melted after placing on cookies right out of the oven. Found another version of the recipe which says to wait 2-3 minutes for cookies to cool a little, then place kiss on top.
I added about 1/2 tsp peppermint extract to the batter. My son said I now have to make these every year at Christmas.
★★★★