last updated on October 29, 2026
For day 4 of my 12 days of holiday recipes we are making peppermint swirl cookies. They’re half chocolate cookie, half plain cookie, with white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, and lots of crushed peppermint. Basically the best of both worlds all wrapped up into a soft, thick cookie.
ingredients needed for peppermint swirl cookies
dough
- 3/4 cup butter, divided
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (170 grams)
- 1/2 cup white sugar (100 grams)
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla
plain dough
- 3/4 cup flour (90 grams)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup crushed peppermint
chocolate dough
- 3/4 cup flour (90 grams)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup crushed peppermint
other recipes you will love
- christmas sprinkle cookies
- cinnamon oatmeal cookies
- gingerbread coffee cake cookies
- pecan pie cookies
peppermint swirl cookies
Ingredients
dough
- 3/4 cup butter divided
- 3/4 cup brown sugar 170 grams
- 1/2 cup white sugar 100 grams
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla
plain dough
- 3/4 cup flour 90 grams
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup crushed peppermint
chocolate dough
- 3/4 cup flour 90 grams
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup crushed peppermint
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Add 1/2 cup (one stick) of butter to a pan over medium heat. Stir as the butter melts and continue to stir as the butter begins to bubble. After a few minutes the butter will start to foam up. When the foam subsides, you'll be left with brown, nutty smelling butter.
- Carefully pour the brown butter into a bowl. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of butter to the bowl and stir. The cold butter will melt into the brown butter and help cool it down.
- Add the butter mixture to a bowl. Add brown sugar and white sugar and use a stand mixer or hand mixer to combine until lighter and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the egg + egg yolk and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.
- Equally divide the batter into two bowls. I recommend using a kitchen scale to be exact, but if you don't have a kitchen scale, use measuring cups or just eyeball it!
- To one half of the dough, add the remaining dry ingredients for the plain dough: flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Add the semi-sweet chocolate chips and peppermint chunks, and mix until just combined.
- To the other half of the dough, add the remaining dry ingredients for the chocolate dough: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Add the white chocolate chips and peppermint chunks, and mix until just combined.
- Using a large cookie scoop (about 1/4 cup), scoop about 1 tbsp of the plain dough, then 1 tbsp of the chocolate dough, the repeat until the scoop is full. Place the dough ball on a parchment lined baking sheet, then repeat the process with the remaining dough.
- Place up to 4 large dough balls on a baking sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes. Let them cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Hello! What happens if I don’t make the brown butter in the pan? If I just melt it in the microwave. Will that change the outcome of the recipe?
that is just fine! it will change the taste a bit, but the cookies will still turn out great!
I made these for the first time and my boyfriend said they’re “the best cookies he’s ever eaten.” When I asked him what snack I could send with him on his deployment his only request was these cookies! He shared with his friends as well and they were a huge hit! Thank you for making such an amazing recipe ??
WOW what an honor!!!! so glad everyone loved these!!
How do you get these to bake evenly? My plain dough seemed to spread out thin while baking and the edges were all burn my but the inside of the cookie not cooked through? I used a scale to measure out flour and sugar and to divide the dough. I loved the flavor of the cookie!
I fixed it by using 1 cup flour in the plain dough, rather than just 3/4 cup.
Love the flavor of these! But the different types of dough definitely have VERY different bake times, so it seems impossible to get an even bake. That was a bit disappointing!
hi! i’m so sorry these didn’t turn out for you. they should definitely have the same bake time. a common mistake on these is to not evenly divide the dough. if it’s not evenly split, there will be too much flour for one of the doughs, and not enough for the other, resulting in unequal bake times. i hope that helps!!
These cookies are amazing although I must admit to not following the recipe exactly. I found that the two doughs had very different consistencies and ended up just mixing them together into one. I also don’t like white chocolate so I replaced those chips with dark chocolate chunks. However, this was a fantastic base to my new favorite cookies (as someone who usually doesn’t like Christmas cookies)
hi! i’m sorry these didn’t turn out as they were supposed to. but i’m glad you were able to throw it together and made it work!
A lot easier than I thought it would be! Followed the recipe to the T and they came out beautifully and were raved about by family and friends at Christmas. People snuck off with them to take them home. I’m craving them now and about to make them once again! 😉
yay i’m so glad you enjoyed these!! and anytime of the year is a good time to eat christmas cookies 🙂
Perfect amount of peppermint for a holiday cookie without overpowering the delicious dough! 10/10 will make again!
yay so glad you enjoyed these!! <3
These came out so tasty and delicious however the consistency was a little off. I followed the recipe to a T and even had the dough split so perfectly across two scales however the chocolate dough was so crumbly and didn’t want the chocolate chips to stick. However, it turned out delicious when baked as I personally love the crunch of the chocolate dough and the softness of the plain dough! Will 100% bake again
hi! i’m so sorry these were inconsistent and a bit tricky. i am retesting these extensively next week and will make adjustments for this holiday season so there aren’t any issues! stay tuned for an updated recipe 🙂 but glad you still enjoyed these!!
what about not using brown butter and replacing it with regular butter, will this have a negative affect on the cookies?
that is fine!
hi if i adjust the size of the cookies to only 2tbsp of dough (1tbsp each flavor) would i have to adjust the baking time, or just add more cookies to the sheet?
hi! i’d start checking the cookies 3-4 minutes early!
thank you so much! so excited to try these next week
Amazing recipe, I love these so much!! I’m seeing people in the comments saying the two sides of the dough had different consistencies; I had this same problem! I fixed it by using 1 cup flour in the plain dough, rather than just 3/4 cup. They come out PERFECT this way! 🙂
I’ve made these the last 2 years and I loved them. This year since I was going to make 2 batches I decided to just double the batch. However they didn’t turn out right, they were really flat, cripsy on the bottom but still a little doughy. Not sure if its from doubling the recipe? I did crush up candy canes this year instead of peppermint candies, could that have had an affect?
hi! doubling the recipe shouldn’t cause a problem. candy canes vs peppermint candies could make a slight difference, but shouldn’t make them super flat! maybe the flour was measured incorrectly? not enough flour is the most common cause of cookies that are really flat. but i’m sorry they didn’t work out this time!
I just realized I didn’t melt the butter. I think that was it!