Soft Baked Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies

It’s officially my favorite time of year! Holiday baking time!

I won’t completely bombard you with Christmas cookie recipes this year {okay maybe just a few} since a few years ago I posted like ten cookie recipes in a row or something crazy like that. All those can be found in the cookie section of my Recipe Journal in case you’re interested. My favorite, hands down, is the pecan fingers recipe. I already requested for my mom to make those when we go visit in a few weeks! My mom and I are also going to keep our Christmas tradition going by making rosettes together using my grandma’s old rosette iron. In case you don’t know what a rosette is, it’s basically fried pancake batter doused in powdered sugar…aka heaven. They are delicious and we make them together every year!

Have I mentioned how much I love holiday baking? Because I do.

Today I have teamed up with a few other bloggers for Gold Medal Flour’s Virtual Bake Day! I’m super excited to share this recipe for Soft Baked Peppermint White Chocolate cookies with you guys today. I only wish you could be eating one with me right now. This baby growing inside me sure does have a sweet tooth these days and these cookies make the perfect late night snack.

So far, I think the hardest part about being pregnant is not eating raw cookie dough. I know, I know…it’s not good to do even when you’re not pregnant, but can you really tell me with a straight face you never have dug your finger into the cookie dough bowl? I didn’t think so.

These cookies are extra delicious due to their secret ingredient — cream cheese! The cream cheese makes them soft and chewy with slightly crispy edges.

Have you seen those new Andes Mint peppermint baking bits yet?! I found some a few weeks ago at World Market and used them in this recipe. They are SO addicting and delicious! If you can’t find those, you can just crush up some starlight mints or mini canes to make these cookies.

Here’s a list of the other bloggers participating in today’s Virtual Bake Day! I’m glad today is only December 4th and we have all month long to bake because all of these treats sound SO GOOD to me right now!

 Coconut and Raspberry Financiers by Baker’s Royal

Peppermint Cookie Brownies by What’s Gaby Cooking

Chocolate Turtle Pie by Sugar Plum Blog

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes by Gimme Some Oven

Eggnog Snickerdoodle Cookies by Wanna Be a Country Cleaver

Brown Sugar Topped Cinnamon Sugar Coffee Cake by Averie Cooks

Coconut Waffles and Pomegranate Syrup by Foodie Crush

Cranberry Lemon and Ginger Muffins by Texanerin Baking

Cranberry Orange Breakfast Knots by Completely Delicious

For even MORE recipes, tips and baking how-to videos, check out Gold Medal Flour on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or Pinterest.

Happy holiday baking, friends!

Soft Baked Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies

yields about 2 dozen cookies

Print this Recipe!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Gold Medal Flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (12 tbsp)

1/4 cup cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup peppermint crunch bits {I love the Andes kind!}

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, followed by the peppermint extract. Mix until combined.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients along with the white chocolate chips and peppermint crunch bits. The dough will be on the soft side. Place bowl in the fridge and let dough chill for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. After the dough has chilled, remove from the fridge and scoop out large balls using an ice cream scoop or big spoon. Place balls of dough 3″ apart on the prepared sheet. No need to press down.

Bake cookies for 20 minutes, less if cookies are smaller. They will begin to turn golden brown around the edges.

Let cookies cool for 10 minutes before serving.

I worked with Gold Medal Flour to develop this recipe and received a small compensation for my time. All opinions are always my own.