These Peppermint Christmas Wreath Cookies are wonderfully festive and so easy to make. Peppermint flavored sugar cookies can be decorated any way you like with peppermint flavored icing. Involve the kids and tap into your creative side to decorated these fun, slightly crispy, holiday cookies.

Christmas wreath and snowflake cookies on pine fern with pine cones

This basic sugar cookie could really not be easier to make. You can add any flavored extract to them, vanilla, almond and in this case, peppermint. Adding chocolate chips would be delicious too.

The dough is as simple as mixing flour, cornstarch (read below why this is added) salt, butter, sugar and eggs using a stand mixer or hand mixer. You can do it by hand, but it will be a workout.

A peppermint sugar cookies decorated with winter white on white frosting

Corn starch is added to the dough to make it easier to handle at room temperature and gives the cookies a cleaner edge when cut.

I used a 4-inch (10 cm) fluted cookie cutter (which yields a large cookie) to achieve the wreath edge effect, then a smaller one to cut out the center. 

The small snowflake cookies you see in the picture below are made using snowflake fondant cutters that I bought from Amazon.

A small snowflake cookie frosted with white icing

Cookie Decorating Ideas

To decorate the cookies, I used white royal icing flavored with peppermint extract. I buy a premade mix and all you need to do is add water.

I didn’t really have a plan of how I wanted to decorate them, so started by simply drizzling a few with the icing. Others I coated the cookies then piped dots for a festive winter white look. To make an edible wreath, I decorated with fresh dill and pomegranate seeds. You can also use festive sprinkles, or use frosting dye to color the icing. The options are endless, just have fun.

A closeup of the cooking showing the green leafy and pomegranate decoration

This recipe yields twelve, 4- inch (10 cm) cookies or twenty-four, 2-inch (5 cm) cookies

More Christmas Recipes:

Christmas Sweet Mince Pies

Christmas Pudding Cookies

Yule Log (Bûche de Noël)

Yield: 12

Peppermint Christmas Wreath Cookies

A peppermint cookie decorated with white icing, green leaves and pomegranate seeds

Peppermint sugar cookies are festively decorated with peppermint royal icing.

Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 12 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 cups (480 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup (47 grams) corn starch
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup/2 sticks (226 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature beaten
  • 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • White royal/cookie icing

Instructions

  1. To a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
    To a separate mixing bowl (using a stand mixer or hand mixer) add the butter and sugar. and Beat on high speed until light in color, smooth and creamy. Scrape down any butter from the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and peppermint extract, beat until well combined.
  2. While mixing on low, slowly add the flour mix until well mixed and comes together. The dough is the right consistency when you hold some in your hand and it does not stick to your fingers. If it is still sticky, add a little more flour and mix.
  3. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on the plastic wrap. Flatten the dough and wrap well. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
  4. Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C with oven rack in the center of the oven.
  5. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.
    Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove 1/3 of the dough. Wrap the remaining dough and refrigerate.
  6. Dust a clean surface lightly with flour. Roll the dough to 1/4-inch (6 mm) thick and use a 4-inch (10 cm) fluted cookie cutter to cut enough cookies to cover your baking sheet, you will need to work on batches. This recipe yields 12, 4-inch cookies.
  7. Place the cookies onto the baking sheet, 1-inch (2.5 cm) apart. Use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out the center (do this on the baking sheet so you don’t have to handle them after the center is cut out because they are harder to handle).
  8. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not let them brown. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes. Use a spatula and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
  9. To frost the cookies, they must be completely cooled. Use your favorite white cookie/royal icing with a few drops of peppermint extract added. Either pipe or spread onto the tops of the cookies. Allow to harden.

Notes

Yields twelve, 4 inch (10 cm) cookies or twenty-four, 2-inch (5 cm) cookies

Nutrition Information

Yield

12

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 208Total Fat 4gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 36mgSodium 130mgCarbohydrates 36gFiber 1gSugar 3gProtein 6g

This nutrition calculation is provided by Nutronix that is only a guideline and not intended for any particular diet.