I love baking these pepperminty cookies in my New England kitchen at Christmastime! Candy Cane Cookies are easy to cut out from butter cookie dough flavored. With red and green M&M's, they're a festive addition to cookie exchanges and parties.
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Decorated trees, festive carols, red and green candies, lights on every tree, shrub, window, and roof in the neighborhood, making and eating Elf spaghetti.
When you think of Christmastime, what comes to your mind? For me, it's all of the above, and of course, candy canes! So I packed all that festive spirit into this recipe for Candy Cane Cookies. The butter cookies have a peppermint flavor, plus chocolaty bites, thanks to red and green M&M's.
Get out your candy cane cookie cutter, and let's make some holiday cookies!
In a nutshell... 🐿️
- What this is: A recipe for festive butter cookies infused with peppermint and vanilla, then cut into candy cane shapes. They're studded with red and green M&M's, pairing chocolate with the mint flavor. They capture the nostalgic excitement of Christmas morning.
- You'll love this part: How the cool peppermint in the cookie tastes with bites of chocolate from the M&M's. These cookies are darling on Christmas dessert tables, and you should definitely leave a few out for Santa.
- How it's made: Cream butter, sugar, extracts, and flour together. Chill the dough, then roll and cut out candy cane shapes. Press in the colorful M&M's and bake.
Jump to:
The Christmas tradition that inspired these Candy Cane Cookies
One of our Christmas traditions is that our kids find a candy cane from Santa under their pillows every Christmas morning. Instead of mint, Santa leaves fruit-flavored candy canes, since the kids aren't all that fond of mint.
I really appreciate this tradition from Santa, because it showed our kids that he really does "see you when you're sleeping." Meaning, the sooner you get to sleep, the sooner the presents will be here!
That Christmas tradition is why I created these Candy Cane Cookies. They capture the same peppermint flavor of real candy canes, but with a fun splash of red and green from another Christmas favorite: red and green M&M's.
When I opened the oven door to take out these baked cookies, the pepperminty aroma fills every corner of the house! And this fan of all things mint appreciates that very much.
Not a mint fan?
No worries! If you want to make Candy Cane Cookies without mint flavor, there's an option for that below in the FAQ section.
Why you'll love these Candy Cane Cookies
While there are no actual candy canes in these cookies, they do have the festive shape of a candy cane. They also have the minty flavor thanks to peppermint extract in the cookie dough. It's balanced with vanilla extract for classic sugar cookie flavor.
It's fun to decorate the cookies with red and green M&M's; the colors make these cookies really stand out! You can alternate red and green like I do, or make Candy Cane Cookies that are all red, all green, half and half, M's up, or M's down. Whatever you like. Plus, the milk chocolate in the candies tastes so delicious with the mint and vanilla butter cookie.
Make Candy Cane Cookies for a Christmas party or cookie exchange, give them to neighbors, or make them with your kids or grandkids to celebrate the start of Christmas vacation.
Oh, and leave a few for Santa! (I have it on good authority that he IS a peppermint fan.)
More holiday treats!
Christmas Rice Krispie Treats
This is a fun and festive recipe to make with your kids and friends! The treats are perfect for gifting, and Santa will love to find one set out on Christmas Eve!
🔪 How to make Candy Cane Cookies with M&M's
Ingredients:
- Butter: Choose a good, quality butter—the flavor really comes through in these simple cookies. I use Cabot unsalted; Kate's of Maine or Kerrygold are other good butters to try.
- Confectioners' sugar: The sweetness in the cookies is from confectioners' sugar, which blends smoothly with the butter, leaving no gritty crystals.
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour for the cookies—my go-to brand is King Arthur Baking Company.
- Extracts: Use two extracts: pure vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Together, they give the cookies a soft mint flavor that's really delicious with the chocolaty M&M's.
- Salt: Just a little salt in the cookie dough enhances the other flavors.
- M&M's candies: I use red and green M&M's for those Christmasy vibes. You can also make them with all red or all green if you want. There are other holiday M&M's, too, like mint chocolate or white chocolate that come in other holiday color blends.
Make the dough
Cream together the butter and sugar, then add in the extracts. Whisk together the dry ingredients, then add them to the butter mixture. Squeeze the dough together by hand a few times, then wrap and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
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Roll and cut out the shapes
Roll out the dough between parchment paper and use a candy cane cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.
Add the M&M's and chill. Then bake
Press red and green M&M's into the candy canes in a festive pattern! Chill the cookies for 20 minutes, then pop them in the oven. Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes.
Candy Cane Cookies FAQs
Yes, you can absolutely make these cookies with no mint flavor. This is a great option for your friends and family who just don't care for minty sweets. To do this, replace the peppermint extract with an equivalent amount of extract flavors such as lemon, orange, rum, or almond. You can also replace the peppermint extract with more vanilla extract for a very vanilla cookie.
Yes, you can freeze these Candy Cane Cookies. Freeze them in a single layer on a tray; once they're solid, transfer them to freezer-proof resealable bags or a container. Store them in the freezer for up to a month. Allow them to thaw in the fridge. Note: the chocolate in the M&M's may look a little streaky after freezing.
Yes, if you want to add a little extra decoration to the Candy Cane Cookies, make a simple vanilla glaze. Drizzle it back and forth across the cookies. Or, use a spoon to cover the tops of the cookies with glaze. Allow it to set before serving or storing the cookies.
Tips:
- These cookies are made using my recipe for Simple Butter Cookies, with a little change-up to the extracts.
- This recipe has two chilling times: the first one helps the dough firm up to make it easier to roll out and cut. The second chill helps to keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking.
- Bake the cookies until they have just a little color at the edges. Be careful not to overbake them.
Have fun making these holly jolly red and green cookies with the pepperminty flavor of an old-fashioned candy cane!
The Christmas Candy Cane Cookies recipe is below. Here are a few more Christmas cookie recipes to try:
💬 Did you make and devour this recipe? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies with M&M's
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Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, unsalted and softened
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1¾ teaspoons peppermint extract
- 1½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 7 ounces red and green holiday M&M's candies
Instructions
Make the dough:
- Cream together the butter and confectioner's sugar for 3 minutes on medium speed in a stand mixer. Scrape the bowl a couple of times during the mixing, it should be smooth.
- Add in the peppermint and vanilla extracts and beat the mixture on low to incorporate them.
- Whisk together the flour and salt in a separate bowl. Mix this into the butter mixture in two additions on low speed, scraping down the bowl often, until the dough has come together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and squeeze the dough together a few times until it is smooth.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. The cut cookies will need to chill before baking so be sure the baking sheet can fit in your fridge.
Cut out the cookies:
- Unwrap the chilled dough and use a knife to cut it in half. Rewrap one of the halves and hold it in the fridge. Place the other half on a large piece of parchment paper.
- Move the dough to one side of the parchment and fold the other half of the parchment over the top of the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough inside the parchment to a ¼-inch thickness.
- (Tip: on a toothpick, measure up from the tip ¼-inch and mark it with a Sharpie. To see if your dough is at ¼-inch thickness, poke the toothpick into the dough and check it against the mark.)
- Use a candy cane cookie cutter (about 3½ inches tall and 2 inches wide at the crook) and cut cookies from the dough. Place the cookies onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between them.
- Roll scraps together and continue cutting cookies to fill the baking sheet. Wrap and hold any leftover scraps in the fridge.
Add M&M's
- Lightly press a line of 7 M&M's into each candy cane cookie, following the shape of the cane and alternating between red and green M&M's.
- (Don't press the M&M's too hard or they will crack the cookie dough canes.)
- Lightly cover the cookies with plastic wrap and chill them for 20 minutes.
Bake the cookies:
- Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes—bake them just until the edges of the cookies show a little color. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, them move them to a cooling rack.
- Repeat the rolling, cutting, M&M-ing and baking until all of the cookies are done. You may have a few M&M's left over... actually, probably not, since you'll have inevitably snuck a few into your mouth while working on the cookies!
- The cooled cookies can be stored wrapped or in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Makes about 35 cookies.
Notes
- A 7-ounce bag of M&M's is roughly one cup.
- These cookies have a great blend of peppermint and vanilla extracts, and baking mellows out some of the pepperminty flavor as well.
- This recipe has two chilling times: the first one helps the dough firm up to make it easier to roll out and cut. The second chill helps to keep the cookies from spreading too much while baking.
Nutrition
tricia says
I found this recipe. The simplicity of it sold me on trying it. I decided to lay a candy cane cookie on top like a stuffed M&M Christmas cookies with sprinkles. So good. Thanks.
Nancy Mock says
Hi Tricia! Oh, that sounds like such a cute sandwich cookie—great idea! I'm so happy you like these cookies, thank you very much for trying my recipe. Happy holidays!
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