Gluten Free Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
by: claire cary
These chocolate peppermint cookies are the ultimate winter dessert. They're chewy with a perfect crispy edge and just the right balance of chocolate and peppermint.
/ /
12
Ingredients
Dry
- 1 cup gluten free all purpose baking flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Wet:
- ½ cup butter dairy free or regular
- ⅔ cup dark brown sugar can sub coconut
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup almond butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2-1 teaspoon peppermint extract I used 3/4
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and both sugars until well combined.
- Beat in all remaining wet ingredients.
- Add in the dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour/cocoa, don't scoop straight from the bag! Beat until well combined.
- Add to the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons) or a spoon and use your hands to roll into balls. Sprinkle the tops lightly in crushed candy canes (try not to go overboard, we'll add more later!)
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 10-13 minutes. With my oven, the cookies do best at 11 minutes, but all ovens are different. The cookies will continue to harden as they cool, so let them sit and cool before eating or adding the melted white chocolate.
- As soon as they come out of the oven, I use one of these round cookie cutters to spin around the cookie (use one that is slightly larger than the cookie) to get perfectly even circles. You aren't cutting the cookie, just spinning it in the cookie cutter to make a perfect circle. This only works when the cookies are soft, so act quickly!
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals and stir between each interval. Drizzle on top of the cookies and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Enjoy!
Notes
Be sure to use peppermint extract, not peppermint flavor. Peppermint flavor is diluted and won't yield quite the same end result. If you can only find peppermint flavor, I'd suggest using a smidge extra so the flavor really comes through.
To keep these cookies soft and fresh for as long as possible, allow them to cool completely and then store them in an air tight container at room temperature for about 5 days.
To make these cookies vegan, you can sub the egg for a flax egg or use another kind of egg replacer. The texture will be different if you omit the egg, but still delicious!
You can sub the almond butter for sunflower seed butter for a nut free option. Generally, a more neutral flavored nut butter like almond, cashew or sunflower will work best. I don't recommend peanut butter here.
Serving: 1cookie / Calories: 157kcal / Carbohydrates: 22g / Protein: 2.1g / Fat: 7.1g / Fiber: 1.1g / Sugar: 14.5g
