These Chocolate Peppermint Cookies are a festive holiday recipe that everyone loves. They are naturally gluten-free (because they’re flourless!), and they also happen to be vegan and paleo-friendly for those who are following special diets. But you can’t tell just by tasting them!
These mint chocolate cookies remind me of a chewy brownie in cookie form. Kind of like the chocolate crinkle cookies I grew up eating– you know, the ones that are covered in powdered sugar?
This chocolate peppermint cookie recipe is better because it’s entirely grain-free, vegan, and naturally sweetened. You’ll use almond butter instead of flour, similar to my popular almond butter cookies!
(Note: this recipe is naturally sweetened until you add in dark chocolate chips and crushed candy cane pieces on top. I love making these cookies look as festive as possible, but feel free to leave them out if you are strictly watching your sugar intake.)
I am normally not a fan of candy canes, but a few crunchy flecks on each cookie really takes these over the top. They’re perfect for serving at a holiday party!
How to Make Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
These healthier chocolate cookies are a quick one-bowl recipe. Just stir together the flax egg (you can use a real egg if you prefer), almond butter, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, and a few other ingredients, and then the cookies are ready to scoop and bake.
I like to sprinkle a bit of crushed candy cane on top for a festive look, but you can leave that off if you’re avoiding added sugar. These cookies need to cool completely on the pan, so be patient. They will be very soft to the touch when they are hot from the oven, but they firm up as they cool.
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (Flourless!)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3/4 cup creamy raw almond butter
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
- 1 crushed candy cane (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. In a large bowl, stir together the ground chia seeds and water. This is your "chia egg." (You can use a real egg if you'd rather skip this.)
- Add the almond butter to the chia seed mixture, along with the coconut sugar, cocoa, salt, baking soda, peppermint extract, and vinegar. Stir well until a thick and uniform mixture is created. Gently fold in the chocolate chips, if using, then drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the lined baking sheet. Use your hands to gently flatten each cookie.
- If you'd like to add the crushed candy cane pieces to the top, sprinkle them on generously before baking. They will melt in the oven and then re-harden when cooled for a crunchy peppermint-flavored topping.
- Bake the cookies at 350ºF until the cookies have slightly spread and the tops look dry, about 9 to 12 minutes. The cookies will still be very soft to the touch, so it's important that you let them cool on the pan for at least 20 minutes before trying to move them to a wire cooling rack. Allow the cookies to cool completely before serving.
- These cookies can be stored uncovered at room temperature for up to 3 days, but for best shelf life keep them in the fridge or freezer. They should last up to two weeks in the fridge, and up to 3 months in the freezer. If you don't eat them all before then!
Video
Nutrition
Chocolate Peppermint Cookie Nutrition (per cookie with the added chocolate chips): Calories: 119, Fat: 8g, Carbohydrates: 12g, Fiber: 2g, Protein: 3g
Recipe Notes:
- If you don’t want to use a flax or chia egg, you can most likely use a real egg to replace it, but the texture will be slightly different. (Usually it’s drier.)
- I also assume that you could use sunflower seed butter for a nut-free version, but you might need to adjust other ingredients since sunflower seed butter is more bitter in flavor.
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like it! And if you make a modification, please let me know what you tried and how it worked out. We can all benefit from your experience!
Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite holiday cookie? Gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies are my other favorites!
Favorite cookie? Hmmmmm…Probably cut-outs minus all the work involved! But these cookies look absolutely divine on every level, right down to the peppermint when your stomach has had it with rich foods this season. And the truth….even people who eat overall pretty healthy need a cookie now and then. So you might as well try to make them as healthy as possible! Yum.
I hear you! As much as I love being creative and making new recipes, most days I just want to make my standard spicy roasted chickpeas 😉 Because I know they’re delicious!
I can’t believe this! At Christmas time, I always make the kids chocolate chip mint cookies with organic candy canes, but they are made with spelt flour. I wanted to have a grain-free option also. So I was thinking about adding mint and candy cane to your vanilla cookie recipe, but now you have saved me the trouble! I will probably make them this weekend or next weekend. I will let you know how they turn out.
Can I substitute vanilla for peppermint? Also if I do, should I still include the vinegar?
Yes, if you don’t want the chocolate mint flavor, I’d use a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. And yes, still use the vinegar to help react with the baking soda. 😉
I love chocolate mint and these are fantastic! I love that they are chewy and not cakey.
These look amazing! I love chocolate peppermint anything, it’s definitely my favorite seasonal flavor. Sharing now!
Hi!
Could I use cashew butter instead and should I keep the 1 cup amount? I have a good sensitivity to almonds.
Thanks!
I meant food not good – gotta love auto type!
Yes, I think cashew butter would work the same as almond butter. Let us know how they turn out for you!
Just finished making these with cashew butter and they turned out fantastic!! I did pick up some dye-free candy canes from Natural Grocers to keep with the mint theme and to make them festive. Another winner, Megan!
I’m so grateful for your easy and delicious recipes–thank you! 😀
I just made these tonight. No use commenting until you can give tangible feedback! They are delicious! I made a double batch out of the gate. I like that it mixes all in one bowl. They mix up and bake nicely. I was even able to remove them from the baking sheet within a few minutes of taking them out of the oven. Tasty little cookies! Well done! 🙂
Thumbprint cookies are yummy!
I would make your cookies with TruJoy brand candy canes (I like to call them Candy J’s).
They don’t have high fructose corn syrup or most of the icky stuff that regular ones do.
I am making these this month!
Thanks so much!
Hi Megan,
If I wanted to substitute Young Living Essential Peppermint Oil for the extract, do you know how many drops I should add?
Thanks!!
I usually add 8-10 drops peppermint ess. oil depending on how minty I want them.
Ooops you did it again. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.
HA! Glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Yum! When I saw this recipe come to my inbox I just had to try it! I made these last night with sunflower seed butter and they taste so good! Soft and chewy. I actually like the, better straight out of the freezer! But as for my favourite cookie, my german neighbours make lebkuchen during the holidays, which is nut based cookie on a thin wafer dipped in chocolate!
Addictive is right! Just made these and was left with 8 cookies….meaning I “sampled” 10 cookies worth of dough. I should be horrified, but they were so delicious I’m going to say it was worth it!
Will cashew butter work instead of almond?
Someone had good results with cashew butter above!
Wow! These are great. I was smart to make these while the kids were at school. This definitely, will become a Christmas favorite. One recipe is not enough!
I made these, and they turned out super dense and dry and the dough was really crumbly and hard to get into balls. The flavour was ok, but the texture was off putting. Any guesses as to why? fixes? Thanks!!
It is icy here today, so I didn’t want to get out for the peppermint extract. So, used almond extract instead and made these non-minty, and they were sooooo good! I can’t wait to try them with peppermint! Thanks for a great recipe!
Megan, these are amazing!! I used to make some that tasted similar to these as a kid, but they were way unhealthy! You just helped me relive my holiday memories of chocolate mint cookies in a healthy way!! Thank you so much I will be sharing this with my tribe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Megan, these are amazing! I brought them to a holiday party, and they were a huge hit! So nice to bring a healthier option. Love your great work. Merry Christmas to your family!
I was so excited when I saw this recipe! I did three variations – roasted sunflower butter (nothing added) instead of almond butter, 1/2 cup coconut sugar instead of 3/4 cup and 1 full teaspoon of mint instead of 1/4 teaspoon. I did half the batch with the candy cane because I wasn’t sure how I would like it. Turns out, I loved the candy cane on top! The sunflower butter overpowers the mint flavor more than I would like (I’m assuming the almond butter would be milder?) but it is still delicious. Without the mint, this would be the perfect nut butter chocolate cookie, and with the mint it has a delicious after-hint of mint. Reducing the sugar worked out great; I definitely didn’t need more.
Thanks for your recipes! I’m just learning to bake (as an adult) and your recipes are what I’m using. This was such a festive and fun recipe to make! 🙂 Happy Holidays!
I did a second batch, and discovered that for a chocolate mint flavor, rather than a sunflower butter chocolate flavor, it took nearly 2 full teaspoons of peppermint extract. So for anyone else doing a nut free version, if you want the mint flavor to be prominent, rather than the sunbutter, up the extract quite a bit. They are delicious!
Thanks for letting us know!!
Hi lane. I was WONDERING if you used the almond butter or not in the second baTch?
So as YOU’RE trying to say is that … You used 1/2 cup coconut sugar, 2 tsp mint EXTRACT, and DIDN’T use almond butter …. Is that right?
BeCause i want to make thIs recIpe for my mom. She loVes mint.
ThaNk you mEgan for tHe RecIpe. It really looks DELICIOUS.
LOVE this recipe and have made many times. I omit the chocolate chips, since I never have them, and use monkfruit sugar for the sweetener. Reminds me of a healthy version of the Girl Scout cookies.
I made these today for a party. They were a hit! I didn’t have peppermint extract so I subbed
With vanilla and puts crushed candy canes in batter! PERFECTION!!!
These cookies have become our family’s new favorite!! They have the perfect texture of crispy on the edges and chewy on the inside. Who knew that a grain free cookie could be so good?! Does anyone know of a source for organic candy canes or hard peppermint candies that are truly minty? The crunchy candies on top really make this over-the-top. Thanks Megan for another great recipe.
These look amazing! What can I substitute for the almond butter and still remain Paleo?
yummy I love mint and chocolate!! I may just have to make these for a cookie exchange party I’m going to 🙂
These are absolutely delicious And the flavors are perfect! Now it’t my go-to dessert recipe. Thank you!
These cookies wer a BIG hit at our family Christmas meal. I will be making them again!!!
I never leave reviews but these were amazing!!! I used a flax egg (to avoid grinding up chia seeds) and roasted almond butter and decreased the sugar a bit. They were a huge hit with our family and friends and no one could believe they were flourless. I cooked for 11 min and left to rest as instructed. Perfect. Thank you!!
I don’t have much to say except these are awesome! They were super easy to make and delicious. I also made the chocolate crinkle cookies and they were equally amazing – an fyi since they are similar. 🙂
Family time recipe:
My little one and I made these (she loved the chemical reaction) but eith some not so creamy almond butter and real egg with chips and crushed candy cane; they turned out pretty darn good!! My little one has been sneaking them and coming to confess after the fact when she needs help cleaning her face and hands! Dont think they will make it a week! Crunchy but chewy and full of mint’n chocolate flavour-yum!! Thanks for the recipe!
I have been making a variation of this recipe for several years now (back when you had a different name for the cookie). It has become a Christmas staple and is loved by every person in my home! The only part I tweak is adding 1/2 cup chopped Andes mints into the batter (instead of chocolate chips). And instead of adding crushed candy cane on top, I melt one Andes mint on top of each cookie and use the back of the spoon to spread it around. Then let it harden up in the freezer before enjoying. My variation is certainly not healthier with the added sugar, but it is much better than other Christmas cookies out there. And it’s become our favorite Christmas cookie by far! 🙂 Thank you, Megan, for these wonderful recipes.
Can the apple cider vinegar be skipped or subbed? I don’t have any but would love to try this recipe