I’m SO EXCITED to share these Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cookies with you! There are no eggs or butter in them, and the cookie base is an easy peasy, one-bowl, no rest cookie dough (LOVE).
These vegan peppermint cookies use chocolate chips, cocoa powder and melted chocolate, as well as a chocolate glaze, for the ultimate chocolate experience! The peppermint candy cane bits sprinkled over the top make them the perfect holiday cookie.
These will crush your holiday cookie exchange because vegans (and non-vegans) will love them (helloooo holiday season!).
This vegan candy cane cookie is part of collection of desserts that I’ve made in a partnership with California Prunes to showcase/highlight the magic of baking with prunes. Also check out Soft & Chewy Chocolate Brownie Vegan Cookies and Vegan Peppermint Brownies.
Prunes are loaded with moisture, natural sweetness, vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants and are a great baking substitution for fats, eggs and sugar when baking (see more details below). You honestly won’t taste them one bit in the finished cookie (it’s witchcraft).
I have more vegan cookie recipes (and/or gluten-free recipes) for you to check out: Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (based on Erewhon’s amazing cookies!), GF Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (these are bonkers delicious) and these Soft & Chewy Vegan Brownie Cookies (YUM).
Let’s make some fabulous holiday vegan cookies!
Why You Should Make These Cookies (Stat!)
- These cookies are so soft, fudgy and fabulous…they taste like little soft, brownie cookie bites
- Even though I love prunes, you don’t taste them at all in this cookie (it’s wild)
- They’re minty, chocolatey and the PERFECT holiday treat
- You can use one bowl for both the cookie and the glaze (just clean in between)
- These will make everyone happy (no one will know what’s in them!!)
- These don’t need a hand mixer or stand mixer (but you’ll need a blender or food processor!)
- This dough needs zero chill time!
Choosing Chocolate for Baking
Dark Chocolate for the Cookies & Ganache
Use a nice dark chocolate that’s made for melting. Chocolate chips will work in a pinch but they resist melting because of their ingredients (they’re meant to hold their shape!). If you have options, pick bars of chocolate, callets or discs as they’ll melt the easiest.
I’m loving these baking chips and these are my most favorite Callebaut callets; I used the Callebaut when testing this recipe (delicious chocolate, melts beautifully — LOVE).
Whatever chocolate you use, make sure it’s good quality and can handle melting.
Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder
Double chocolate (both chips and unsweetened cocoa powder) mean these cookies have mega flavor. I love this Hershey’s Dark as it’s easy to find and yields beautiful flavor + color; you can, however, use any unsweetened cocoa powder you have on hand.
How These Are Vegan (my secret recipe*!)
*…that’s no longer secret! 😉
Several years ago, I created some recipes for CA Prunes and I came up with this chocolatey base that takes place of butter and eggs in baked treats. I started with the concept of a flax egg. Have you heard of this?
For a flax egg you basically blitz flaxseeds with water in a high-speed blender or food processor and it morphs into an egg white-like consistency.
From there, I added in the prunes and unsweetened cocoa powder. You get this thick (delicious) base that also lets you cut back on added sugar (which I love).
These four ingredients (prunes, flaxseeds, cocoa powder and hot water) get blitzed into oblivion (with your blender or food processor), until it become a thick and smooth mixture.
And although I LOVE the flavor of prunes, you won’t taste them one iota in these cookies.
I’m honestly eating them as I type this and I still can’t believe that this isn’t a typical butter + egg cookie dough!
You’ll only need half of the prune mixture for this batch of cookies. The mixture freezes like a dream and is perfectly portioned for your second batch of vegan holiday cookies!
For more info on healthy baking with prunes, click here!
My Favorite Peppermint Chocolate Cookie Tips
+ Step-by-Step Instructions
Below are step-by-step photos (with captions) to make The Best Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cookies perfect every single time! My biggest tips are:
- Use Quality Peppermint Extract. Peppermint extract taste varies with many tasting and smelling like mouthwash or overly fake. I love Nielsen-Massey Pure Peppermint Extract.
- Press the Cookie Dough Balls Down Before Baking. This is a puffy little cookie and to get a nice plateau over the top (to hold the chocolate glaze), it helps to press the dough balls down a bit to make more of a disc.
- Blend the Melted Chocolate Mixture Until Smooth. The vegan prune-flaxseed mixture is blended until smooth (ish) and then mixed with melted chocolate. To make an ultra smooth cookie dough, run this through the blender a second time for the ultimate cookie texture and appearance. It’s an optional step but I think it’s worth it!
Let’s make some super festive Vegan Candy Cane Cookies!
To Start
For the Cookie Dough
For the Vegan Chocolate Glaze Glaze
The Baker’s Guide to Measuring Flour
One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes in baking is how we measure flour. If you find yourself without a scale, see my top tips on how to properly measure flour for the perfect amount every time!
What These Cookies Taste Like
Picture the most delicious triple chocolate cookie and that’s this cookie. We use cocoa powder, melted chocolate and chocolate chips in the base, so these are very chocolate forward.
They have a hint of peppermint extract in the cookie base that gives just the perfect amount of fresh, cool candy cane flavor. The texture is soft and brownie-esque. I cannot emphasize this enough: NO ONE WILL KNOW THESE ARE VEGAN!!
The glaze comes together super easy and provides another hit of chocolate.
They’re finished with crushed up peppermint candies for the final candy cane flavor and texture. Plus, I love that the candy cane bits let you know that you’re about to bite into something that’s peppermint and fabulous.
Shop This Recipe
My trusty Vitamix to help blend up that prune cookie base; you can also use your Cusinart Food Processor
My favorite extra-large Cookie Sheets
These will let you bake more cookies at a time (make sure they’ll fit in your oven). These are restaurant grade and I love them for everything from cookies to roasting veggies and sheet-pan dinners!
This is the 2-tablespoon Cookie Scoop I used for these cookies
You can also eyeball the size and use a spoon.
The Spatula that I use for literally EVERYTHING
The set of heat-safe Glass Bowls that I for mixing
My favorite Scale because cookies thrive with precision
More Desserts Please!
If you’d like to see some more peppermint recipes, check out: Fudgy Peppermint Brownies Recipe, Peppermint Bark Cookie Bars, Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cups, Chocolate Peppermint Skillet Cookie, Holiday Chocolate Peppermint Breakfast Buns and Peppermint Sandwich Cookies.
I also have quite a few prune-based treats for you to peruse as well: Flaky Prune Danishes, Soft & Chewy Chocolate Granola Bars, Warm Chocolate Pudding Cakes for Two and Five-Spice Prune Cookie Bars.
Enjoy your Peppermint Chocolate Cookies!
Incredible Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (Vegan)
Equipment
Ingredients
To Start
- 8 oz (227 g) California Prunes
- 1/2 cup (43 g) unsweetened dark (Dutch process) cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons (20 g) raw flaxseeds
- 1/2 cup (112 g) hot water
For the Cookie Dough
- 1 cup (170 g) dark chocolate (coarsely chopped)
- 1/2 cup (112 g) sunflower or grapeseed oil (or other neutral oil)
- 1/2 cup (105 g) light brown sugar (packed)
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) real vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) hot water
- 1 teaspoon real peppermint extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 g) sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 3/4 cups (237 g) all-purpose flour (how to measure flour)
- 1 cup (170 g) dark chocolate chips
For the Vegan Chocolate Glaze
- 2 cups (240 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 tablespoons (15 g) unsweetened dark (Dutch process) cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) boiling water
- 1 ½ tablespoon (30 g) light corn syrup ((or vegan butter))
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons (33 g) peppermint candies (candy canes) (crushed)
Instructions
To Start
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line several cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- To a high-speed blender add the prunes, cocoa powder, flaxseeds and hot water (in that order). Blend on low for several minutes or until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the blender to make sure that everything is well combined. Measure out about ½ cup (170 g) of the prune puree and reserve the remaining for your next batch (it freezes great!). Don’t clean your blender and set aside for the next step.
For the Cookie Dough
- To a large bowl (that’s heat safe) set over simmering water, add the dark chocolate, oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar and ½ cup (170 g) of prune-flaxseed mixture. Make sure the water doesn’t boil or touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir frequently until the chocolate is melted and then pour the mixture back into the blender, add the vanilla, water and peppermint extract and blend on low until quite smooth, no more than 1 minute.
- Stir in the sea salt, baking powder, baking soda until completely combined and then fold in the flour until the dough is mixed, but you still see streaks of flour. It will be very thick. Add the chocolate chips and fold until evenly mixed throughout the dough. The dough will appear slightly glossy and quite thick, this is perfect.
- Portion 2 tablespoons (28 g) of dough into a ball and place on the cookie sheet, allowing about 2 inches (5 cm) between each dough ball. Prior to baking, gently press the dough balls down to form a disc (rather than a ball). Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 10 minutes. You want to slightly underbake these. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. *When baking, allow more space between the cookies than shown in the photo below.
For the Vegan Chocolate Glaze
- Whisk together the confectioners sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Pour in the water, corn syrup and vanilla and stir until smooth and completely combined.
- Spread the glaze over the tops of the cookies and sprinkle with the crushed candy cane pieces. Allow the glaze to set for several hours at room temperature before serving.
Notes
Cookie Tips
- This recipe makes ample frosting (I’d rather have more than less!). If you have extra, consider smearing on graham crackers for a yummy snack.
- Let’s the frosted cookies sit at room temp for several hours for the frosting to set prior to serving.
- The frosting will get a wee bit matte as it chills (this is normal).
Cookie Storage
Store the cookies, in a single layer, in an airtight container at room temperature.For Best Results
This dough is best if mixed and baked straight away; do not store the dough in the fridge.Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Cookies
If you follow a gluten-free diet, these vegan peppermint cookies are a great cookie to make gluten free. Simply replace the all-purpose flour with gluten-free cupe-for-cup flour 1:1.Want More Cookie Tips?
Head over to My 10 Favorite Tips for Better Cookies!Thank you for supporting the companies, brands & agencies that support DisplacedHousewife. As a proud partner of CAPrunes, I hope when shopping you’ll look for the CA Grown license plate sticker to let you know that your goods came from our beautiful state. You can also check this link to see where your produce is coming from.
Can I freeze this dough ahead of time?
Hey Tina! I prefer this cookie dough baked as soon as the dough is mixed. If you’re pressed on time, you could freeze ahead of time. Defrost overnight in the fridge and then bring to room temperature on the counter before rolling the cookie dough balls. Make sure you press down to make them into discs as well.
Let me know if you have any other questions! xo