These Chocolate Peppermint Whoopie Pies are a delicious, festive holiday treat. The classic marshmallow filling is jazzed up with a hint of peppermint extract and crushed candy canes.
These Chocolate Peppermint Whoopie Pies are composed of a dense, cake-like cookie and a fluffy peppermint scented marshmallow filling. They’re fairly easy to put together and are sure to impress your holiday guests.
Variations
- Leave out the peppermint. If you prefer a classic whoopie pie, simply leave out the peppermint extract and candy cane. That way, this recipe is perfect for any time of the year.
- Double up on peppermint. On the contrary, you can add a few drops of peppermint extract to the chocolate cookies to double down on the peppermint flavor.
- Try a buttercream. Instead of the marshmallow filling, you can fill these with a simple American buttercream. Vanilla, chocolate or peanut butter would all be tasty choices.
- Add nuts. Ditch the candy canes and coat the sides of the filling with finely chopped, toasted nuts. Try hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts or pistachios!
More Holiday Sweets
- Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Sicilian Cannoli
- Gingerbread Scones with Lemon Glaze
- The Best Easy Panettone
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Panettone Bread Pudding
- Linzer Cookies with Strawberry Rose Jam
- Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate and Jam
- Nutella Cannoli
- Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons
- Vanilla Bean Eggnog
- Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Marshmallows
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Chocolate Peppermint Whoopie Pies
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 dozen, 3-inch Whoopie Pies 1x
Description
These Chocolate Peppermint Whoopie Pies are a delicious, festive holiday treat. The classic marshmallow filling is jazzed up with a hint of peppermint extract and crushed candy canes.
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 2 cups flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process)
- 2 tsp instant espresso
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
Filling:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/3 cups marshmallow fluff
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
- 1 candy cane, crushed, for decorating (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven and prep pan: Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment and trace 2 ½ inch circles 2 inches apart, using a round cutter or the bottom of a glass. Flip parchment so ink is on the bottom and won’t make contact with the cookies. Alternatively, grease a whoopie pie pan with butter.*
- Mix dry ingredients: Sift together flour, cocoa, coffee powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Cream butter, sugar and egg: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar over medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy. You can also use a bowl and handheld beaters or a regular whisk. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
- Finish batter: Alternatively add flour mixture and buttermilk in two to three additions, until just combined. Do not overmix. Transfer mixture to a piping bag or plastic ziplock bag, and snip off about ½ inch of the tip.
- Bake: Pipe circles of dough within outline of prepared pans. Use an offset spatula to smooth out the tops. Bake on center rack of oven for a total of 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer directly to rack to cool completely.
- Make filling: Add butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. You can also use a bowl and handheld beaters or a regular whisk. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add marshmallow fluff and fold to combine. Taste and add a few more drops of peppermint extract, if desired. Transfer to a piping bag and snip off ½ inch of the tip.
- Assemble and eat: When cookies are completely cool, turn half of cookies upside down. Pipe filling in a circular motion onto the cookie, working from the outside inwards. Top with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Decorate outside of filling with crushed candy cane, if desired. Enjoy.
Notes
Instant coffee is an optional ingredient as I don’t want you to purchase that solely for this recipe, but it really makes a huge difference in the dough. It helps to really bring out that chocolate flavor and gives these cakes a little edge that makes them even better.
To crush a candy cane, I recommend pulsing it in a food processor. You can also chop it by hand with a sharp chef’s knife.
I tested a number of different methods of forming whoopie pies. I prefer to trace circles onto parchment paper and pipe the filling into rounds, using the circles as a guide. This way the cookies come out with nice rounded edges and aren’t quite too thick or domed.
Alternatively, you can use a whoopie pie pan as I mentioned above. This makes the process even easier and gives the cookies an exact uniform shape. The only reason I don’t like the whoopie pie pan is because it creates flat squared off edges. If I wasn’t taking photographs, I’d totally use the pan though!
If you prefer a more domed rounded look, you can also use a mini ice cream scoop. A 1 oz scoop will give you smaller cookies, while a 2oz scoop will give you quite large cookies. Bake time will vary depending on the method you use.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 whoopie pie
- Calories: 440
- Sugar: 31g
- Sodium: 285mg
- Fat: 25g
- Saturated Fat: 15g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 53g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 79mg
This post has been updated to include a slightly modified recipe, new images and new text.
Yum! I love whoopie pies. Chocolate and peppermint? Yes yes.
Thank you! It’s definitely a great combo 🙂
Are whoopie pies like macarons? Love the combo of flavours, will add to my Christmas in July menu for sure. Yum!
They are basically like small cakes with a slightly thicker batter. And awesome! Christmas in July sounds like a fun idea!
Yum! these look so good! chocolate and peppermint is such a classic combination!
Thanks, Manali!
Hi, nice to meet you! What lovely looking Whoopie pies!
Thank you, Lynn!
Those whoopie pies looks great! I have been making them for years and yours are so lovely!!
Thanks so much, Lynn! I have to take your lead and start making them more 🙂
They are so much fun and my oldest son’s favorite!!
Great minds must think just a bit alike! I’m working on a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie post right now and the email notification of your Chocolate Whoopie Pies just came through! Yours look fabulous and as always your photography is to die for! It will take me a day or two to finish my post – other things always pull me away – but I just had to make a comment on yours 🙂 Love your blog – thanks so much for sharing!
That’s so sweet, Julie! I’m going to check out your whoopie pies now :).
They look splendid!:)
Thank you!