Peppermint Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookies

These peppermint chocolate covered Oreo cookies are a quick and easy addition to your holiday cookie plate or just the right thing to wrap up and gift to your neighbors or co-workers!

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Chocolate and peppermint are one of the classic holiday flavors. Peppermint chocolate covered Oreos require very little actual work to make. Dip a (double stuf, imo) Oreo in melted chocolate and sprinkle with crushed candy canes-bam-done! The vast majority of the time required is dry time.

Tips for success:

• Melt your chocolate in the microwave-don’t bother with a double boiler
• Use melting chocolate instead of chocolate chips-melting chocolate is designed to dry firm, chocolate chips will stay soft
• Allow the cookies to dry at room temperature on a piece of wax or parchment paper (doesn’t matter which)
• Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on the top while the chocolate is still wet-seems obvious but somehow I always manage to have one or two that I forget to sprinkle until it’s too late

Are peppermint oil and peppermint extract the same thing?

No. Extracts are made by steeping the ingredient (in this case peppermint) in alcohol to “extract” the flavor. Peppermint oil is the essential oil of the peppermint plant. Peppermint oil is more concentrated and therefore much more potent. We use half the amount of peppermint oil as we would peppermint extract (i.e. if you use 1 teaspoon peppermint extract, use no more than 1/2 teaspoon peppermint oil)

What’s the difference between peppermint extract and mint extract?

Gosh, this was sooo confusing to me when I first started baking. Especially because I almost always called things that were actually peppermint, “mint.” However, when I used mint extract in my recipe, it totally wasn’t peppermint.

Mint extract is a combination of spearmint and peppermint extracts, where peppermint extract is only peppermint. When making holiday “mint” desserts, you typically want to use peppermint extract or oil because it goes best with chocolate.

Best way to crush candy canes

They make a candy cane crunch that you can buy, which is a super easy way to get your crunched up candy canes. However, I can’t bring myself to pay $6 for something that would cost me less than a quarter and allows me to vent a little stress.

Place unwrapped candy canes in a ziploc bag and seal the bag. Take a hammer or the end of your rolling pin and go to town. You’ll get odd sized pieces with this method, which I personally like the look of, but if you don’t, you can take your candy canes for a spin in the food processor. It will make short work of crushing your candy canes.

Other toppings:

You don’t have to use crushed candy canes to top these cookies. Since the peppermint flavor is incorporated into the chocolate, you can top them with whatever you like:

• Sprinkles
• Stripes of another color chocolate
• Nothing, leave them nice and plain
• Crushed Oreos
• Chopped nuts
• Chopped up Andes mint candies

Should I refrigerate chocolate covered Oreos?

There is no need to refrigerate chocolate covered Oreos. Oreo cookies are shelf stable at room temperature and so is melting chocolate. Refrigerating them is actually bad for a chocolate covered cookie. It will cause condensation and the chocolate will get a damp, sweaty look to it. Not appealing.

How far in advance can I make peppermint chocolate covered Oreos?

Oreo cookies are pretty shelf stable, so you can easily make these cookies 2-3 weeks in advance. Once the cookies are dry, place them in a sealed container and use them when you need them. I would advise to store them by themselves, cookies made with peppermint tend to make everything they are stored with taste like peppermint too!

Did you make this recipe? Tag me @bakincareofbusiness on Instagram so I can see what you made!

Looking for more delicious holiday treats? Try these no-bake peanut butter balls or these brownie truffles!

Happy Baking!

Sources:

Imperial Sugar

The Kitchn