Do you love baking cookies at Christmas? These peppermint chocolate roll cookies are unique, fun and totally delicious. If you don’t feel like rolling them up, this recipe works just as well sandwich cookie style.

If you’re looking for more chocolatey biscuits to fill up cookie boxes, these Nutella sandwich cookies and chocolate candy cane cookies would work a treat.

A batch of chocolate roll cookies on a sheet of baking paper.

I have a wonderful friend who lives a billion miles away in California – that’s Trang from Wild Wild Whisk. In 2017, we decided to create a couple of chocolatey Christmas treats. Trang created these delicious peppermint chocolate truffle pops and I came up with these peppermint chocolate roll cookies.

Why you’ll love it

Unique Christmas cookies, they are but no one searches google for these words so they don’t get many eyes on them. They are so good and so fun that I had to update the post and give you more info on how to make them.

The cookie part is soft but crisp all at once and the peppermint filling, which is so simple to make, is bursting with peppermint flavour. The ends are sealed off with some melted chocolate and then sprinkled with crushed up candy canes.

One of the great things about these aside from their flavour is that if you don’t feel like getting fancy and rolling up the cookies, you can absolutely turn them into sandwich cookies instead. Just cut rounds or squares, fill with the peppermint fondant filling then dunk half in chocolate and sprinkle over those candy cane bits.

Tools you’ll need

Ingredients for peppermint chocolate roll cookies

The ingredients are pretty simple and there aren’t too many.

Ingredients for Peppermint chocolate roll cookies on a marble surface.

Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.

  • Flour: You just need plain / all-purpose flour.
  • Cocoa: You can use dutch cocoa or regular sweetened cocoa in these.
  • Icing sugar: Icing sugar (aka powdered sugar) is what we use for sweetness.
  • Butter: Use unsalted butter when baking desserts so you can control the salt level. Salted butters all have varying levels of salt.
  • Peppermint extract: Please use a peppermint extract as opposed to essence. The latter is a synthetic flavouring while extract is natural and has a better flavour.
  • Egg white: We only need the egg white in the cookies to pull the dough together.
  • Liquid glucose or light corn syrup: This is used in the peppermint fondant filling for texture.
  • Milk: Just a little milk will loosen the peppermint fondant filling to make it more pipeable.
  • Chocolate: I use dark (50%) chocolate to seal the ends with. Milk, white or even darker chocolate will all work too, so choose your favourite.
  • Candy canes: For that classic Christmas touch, these have crushed up candy canes scattered over the chocolate before it sets.

How to make peppermint chocolate roll cookies

There is a little technique in rolling the dough and you’ll need to be gentle but the result is a unique cookie that no one has ever had before. As I mentioned previously though, if you don’t feel like doing that, just make them sandwich cookies, just thicken the fondant slightly if you need.

A collage of 4 images showing how to make the cookie dough and roll it out.

Detailed instructions in the recipe card below.

  1. Make the dough: The cookie dough is easily mixed together in one bowl. Whisk together the butter, egg white and peppermint extract. Then sift in the dry ingredients (photo 1) and mix until clumping (photo 2). If it starts getting too thick for the spatula, just use your hands.
  2. Roll the dough and cut the cookies: Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper, very thin then gently peel back the paper. Use your cookie cutter to cut shapes from the dough (photo 3).
  3. Rolling the cookies: Peel away some of the excess dough from one side, then place your straw on top right near the edge. Use an offset spatula or a thin knife to gently lift the edge of the cookie dough and stick it to the straw. Now roll it up (photo 4), gently, using the spatula to assist if needed.
A collage of 4 images showing how to fill and decorate the cookies.
  1. Bake: Place the cookies on a baking tray a couple of inches apart (photo 5) and bake for around 10 minutes, until they look dry.
  2. Removing the straws: Let the cookies cool for a few minutes to firm up before removing the straws. The best way is to hold the cookie in one hand, then gently push with your thumb on the end of the straw until it loosens and pull it through the other side.
  3. For the peppermint fondant: Beat together the butter, glucose and salt before adding half the sugar and beating that in. Add the remaining sugar, then the extract and milk. Just add enough milk until you have a pipeable consistency (photo 6). You don’t want it very runny, it should be quite thick but able to be piped.
  4. Pipe in the fondant: Transfer the fondant to a piping bag with either a 5mm tip or with a small hole cut at the end. Pipe the fondant into the cookies from one end (photo 7), then repeat at the other end.
  5. Dip and coat: Dip the ends in melted chocolate, then into some crushed candy canes.
A stack of chocolate roll cookies with one broken in half.

Tips and tricks

  • Before cutting the cookie shapes, peel back the paper from the dough, then place it back, flip it over and peel back from the other side. This will stop your cookie dough sticking and breaking as you try to roll them up.
  • When rolling the cookies up, you do need to be gentle. The dough is thin so it can break easily.
  • If making sandwich cookies, don’t roll the dough quite so thin (double the thickness at least) and use a smaller cookie cutter.
  • You can crush the candy canes in a plastic bag, gently bashing with a rolling pin.
  • Once made, you can roll the dough out and start rolling up the cookies straight away
  • But don’t skip chilling them before they bake. This step firms up the dough enough that they stay in a tube shape as they cook and don’t just melt down into strange pools of chocolate cookie.

I was so determined to come up with something out of the box when I made these peppermint chocolate roll cookies and I accomplished that. They both taste amazing and are such unique Christmas cookies that they look gorgeous in the (cookie) box too.

A pyramid stack of peppermint chocolate roll cookies.

If you try these peppermint chocolate roll cookies, please take a moment to leave a rating and comment below. I love hearing from you and it helps other readers too! You can also take a photo and tag @sugarsaltmagic on Instagram.

A row of chocolate roll cookies on a sheet of baking paper.
5 from 8 ratings
These peppermint chocolate roll cookies are a chocolate cookie tube, filled with peppermint fondant filling, then sealed with more chocolate. These unique Christmas cookies will make your cookie boards extra fun this year.

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cookies

  • 115 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (½ cup / 1 stick)
  • 1 large egg white
  • ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 195 g plain (all purp) flour (1 ½ cups / 6.9oz)
  • 2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa (20g / 0.7oz) (notes)
  • 140 g icing (powdered) sugar (1 cup / 5oz)

For the Peppermint cream

  • 30 g unsalted butter, softened (2 tablespoons / 1oz)
  • 1 ½ tablespoons liquid glucose/ light corn syrup (notes)
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 ¾ cups icing (powdered) sugar (230g / 8.1oz)
  • ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 1-2 tablespoons milk (notes)

Other

  • 80 g dark chocolate (2.8oz)
  • 2 candy canes, crushed
  • 15 large (1cm diameter) paper straws, cut in half

For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided

Instructions
 

FOR THE CHOCOLATE ROLL COOKIES

  • In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg white and peppermint extract.
  • Sift over the flour, cocoa and sugar and mix with a spatula until it starts clumping together (you may need to use your hands towards the end).
  • Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
  • Lay out a large sheet of baking paper (about 70cm / 2.3 ft). Cut the dough into 3 pieces and set 2 aside. Lay the first piece in the centre of one half of the baking paper and fold the other half over the top.
  • Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough very thin (about 1mm thick). Gently peel back the top layer of paper, then lay it back down again (this step is just to loosen the dough from the paper). Flip the dough over and gently peel back the other side of baking paper.
  • Use a square cookie cutter (10cm / 4in) to cut shapes out of the dough. Move some of the excess dough out of the way and sit a straw about 5mm in from the front edge of the cutout. Use a small knife or offset spatula to carefully lift the front edge and push it onto the straw. Now carefully roll it up and sit on the prepared baking tray. Repeat with the rest of the dough, sitting the finished rolls about 1-2 inches apart on the baking trays. Sit the trays in the fridge for at least half an hour before proceeding (notes).
  • Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F / 180C fan forced.
  • Place the cookies in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
  • Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing straws. Hold the cookie firmly in the palm of one hand. Use your thumb of the other hand to push on one end of the straw until it loosens, then pull out from the other end. Let them cool completely before filling.

FOR THE PEPPERMINT FONDANT

  • In a stand mixer, beat together the butter, syrup and salt. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat together. Now add the extract and half of the milk and beat well. Slowly add more milk until you have a pipeable consistency.

TO ASSEMBLE

  • Fill a piping bag with a small tip, with the peppermint cream. Insert the tip into the end of a cookie and gently squeeze the piping bag until you start to feel it being pushed back out. Repeat at the other end and then for all remaining cookies.
  • Line a baking tray with baking paper and sit a wire rack on top.
  • Melt the chocolate in 30 second bursts, in the microwave, stirring well between each so you don’t burn it. Dip each end of the cookies into the chocolate then sprinkle over the crushed candy canes and allow to set.

Notes

  1. I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (4 teaspoons worldwide)
  2. It’s very important to let the cookies cool in the fridge for a minimum of ½ an hour as this will help them to keep their shape when they bake.
  3. If you don’t want to roll the cookies, you don’t have to. Just cut circles instead. Bake for only around 8-9 minutes, then sandwich them together with the peppermint cream.
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Have you tried this recipe?Don’t forget to leave a rating and comment below and let me know how it was! I love hearing from you. Nutrition information is approximate and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use may cause variations.