You know why I love the holidays so much? The food! I love all the specialty flavors that happen this time of year: salted caramel and pumpkin spice, eggnog and peppermint. I don’t think I can choose a favorite flavor, but peppermint is definitely up there at the top of the list.

My daughter is actually the mint fiend in our family. She can never get enough peppermint treats, be it hot chocolate or candy canes or cookies. Every season I try and come up with some new recipes for her with her favorite flavor in mind, and these Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks are my creation for this year.

If you’re looking for an easy holiday delight for your cookie platters this year, these sugar cookie bars are what you need to add to your list. They’re sugar cookies you don’t have to roll or scoop, they’re full of chocolate and peppermint flavor, and they even have a frosting.

Sugar cookies are probably my favorite cookie to make all year long, but especially at the holidays. My only complaint with them, normally, is that you have to roll them out. That is more work than I like, so I love that this recipe gets pressed into a 10×15-inch (jelly roll) pan. They’re the perfect thickness to make into sticks and they bake up in just about 16 minutes.

The base of the sugar cookie dough is butter, and you want to use the best kind of butter so your cookies taste the best. I love using Challenge Butter for that reason; it’s my favorite butter and it’s the one I grew up on. It’s 100% real cream butter with nothing artificial, it’s farm to fridge in just two days, and there are no hormones, additives, or fillers. The best ingredients make the best tasting butter, which makes the best tasting sugar cookies!

The cookies are flavored with a teeny bit of peppermint extract, which you can omit if you’d rather. I just like the extra bit of peppermint you get in every bite. I added chocolate chips because chocolate and peppermint just go so well together.

Once the cookies are baked, I make up an easy buttercream frosting that makes a thin layer one the top. There’s no need for a huge layer of icing on these, they are plenty sweet enough, I promise. Then I sprinkled the top with crushed candy canes (or peppermint crunch, which you can now buy in the holiday baking aisle at many stores).

Instead of slicing them into thick bars, I opted for cookie sticks. When you’re making up holiday platters you want to be able to get as many cookies as you can, and this makes 64 sticks! It’s the perfect recipe for holiday giving.

My daughter loved these (and so did I!) and we hope that you love them as much as we do. Happy Holidays!

Servings

64 cookies

Cookie Sticks


  • ¾ cup Challenge Unsalted Butter, softened

  • ¾ cup granulated sugar

  • 1 large egg

  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

  • ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

  • ½ teaspoon cream of tartar

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Frosting


  • ¼ cup unsalted Challenge butter, softened

  • 2 cups powdered sugar

  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

  • 3-4 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

  • ¼ teaspoon salt

  • candy canes, crushed, or peppermint crunch candy topping for garnish

Directions

  • 1

    Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 10×15-inch pan (jelly roll pan) with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray (for easy removal).

  • 2

    Cream butter and sugar with a hand or a stand mixer until fluffy. Mix in egg and both extracts, then mix in baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Once mixed, add flour and stir carefully until cookie dough forms, then stir in chocolate chips.

  • 3

    Press mixture evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or JUST until it starts to get golden brown around the edges. These taste better if you err on the side of under done as they continue cooking as they cool. Cool completely before frosting.

  • 4

    To make the frosting: cream butter with a hand mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Slowly mix in powdered sugar until crumbly, then add salt, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream, adding more as needed for consistency.

  • 5

    Remove from pan and remove foil (if using). Frost sugar cookie slab with the frosting and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Slice into sticks. Makes 64 cookies.

  • 6

    Store loosely covered for up to 3 days or freeze in a single layer for up to one month. Note: if freezing, add the peppermint crunch after defrosting or it will dissolve into the frosting.