Food and Recipes Holiday and Occasion Food 16 Peppermint Dessert Recipes Perfect For The Holiday Season By Southern Living Editors Southern Living Editors Since 1966, the editors of Southern Living have been carrying out the mission of the brand: to bring enjoyment, fulfillment, and inspiration to our readers by celebrating life in the South. We inspire creativity in their homes, their kitchens, their gardens, and their personal style. We are a friend they can trust, a guide to the seasons, a helping hand during the holidays, and a relentless champion of the Southern way of life. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on November 14, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Greg DuPree; Prop Styling: Christine Keely; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer Peppermint desserts are a delicious sign that the holiday season is in full swing. Once peppermint candy canes hit store shelves, we know it's time to indulge. The cool red and white candies—no matter if they're hanging from the Christmas tree as decoration or incorporated into the table settings for holiday parties or Christmas dinner—are a quintessential part of the season. Serve a decadent peppermint dessert after the traditional Christmas spread or bring one to your next holiday party. Crumble these crunchy hard candies atop a cake, bake it in a slice of chocolate heaven, or sprinkle it over a cool ice cream dessert. Our favorite cool peppermint recipes show the many ways to use peppermint candies in desserts, drinks, and everything in between. No matter which way you choose to incorporate peppermint into your Christmas confections, these delicious mint desserts will have guests grabbing seconds. 01 of 16 Chocolate Peppermint Cake Victor Protasio, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Kathleen Varner This centerpiece-worthy, three-layer cake is fluffy, tender, and ultra-rich. Chocolate cake layers and minty Italian meringue are topped off with soft peppermint candies for a fun and festive holiday look. Leftovers can be refrigerated up to three days. 02 of 16 No-Bake Dark Chocolate-Peppermint Sandwich Cookies GREG DUPREE; FOOD STYLING: EMILY NABORS HALL; PROP STYLING: AUDREY DAVIS Store-bought wafers get a serious upgrade with peppermint cream filling and a melted chocolate coating. The result? Homemade, holiday-worthy cookies that no one will believe didn't require a single minute of baking. 03 of 16 Peppermint Divinity Greg DuPree; Prop Styling: Christine Keely; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer Making this vintage candy recipe should become a Christmas tradition for you and your kids or grandkids. Divinity is a classic candy made with granulated sugar, corn syrup, and stiffly beaten egg whites. We've tweaked the usual recipe by swapping out the nuts for crushed peppermint candies. 04 of 16 Peppermint Cake with Seven-Minute Frosting Hector Manuel Sanchez How gorgeous is the pink buttercream layer in this festive cake? The frosting on the outside of the layers cooks for seven minutes in a double boiler—hence the name. Press crushed peppermints on the sides of the cake for extra sparkle. 05 of 16 Chocolate-Peppermint Cheesecake Hector Sanchez This decadent cheesecake can be prepared two days in advance, which makes it the ultimate make-ahead dessert for the busy holiday season. Crushed chocolate wafers form the crust, while chocolate morsels sweeten the cake. Don't worry if your cheesecake cracks; the light and fluffy layer of whipped cream will cover it. 06 of 16 Peppermint Meltaways Micah A. Leal These festive cookies live up to their name and "melt away" in your mouth, leaving behind a rich and delicate peppermint sweetness. The use of powdered sugar in the cookie dough and cornstarch mixed into the flour transforms the cookie into something that feels like a cloud on your tongue. Plus, this airy recipe calls for just 20 minutes of hands-on time. 07 of 16 Christmas Buttermints Greg DuPree; Prop Styling: Christine Keely; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer We'll have a tray of these pretty vintage candies out for guests all holiday season. The classic recipe is a little tricky and requires expert candy-making skills. But with our simplified Christmas Butter Mints, which require no cooking and only a few kitchen staples, you can whip up a batch in no time. 08 of 16 White Chocolate-Peppermint Blondies Iain Bagwell This cookie bar recipe has a high yield, so everyone on your Christmas list can get a few. The icing is quick to prepare and apply after the blondies have cooled. Dress with candy-striped mints and cut into Christmas-tree-shaped triangles. 09 of 16 Duke's Peppermint Fudge Brownies Mary Britton Senseney, The Duke's Mayonnaise Cookbook This delectable treat comes from the Duke's Mayonnaise Cookbook. Mayonnaise is the secret to the fudgiest brownies you've ever baked. Add melted dark chocolate and a crushed peppermint topping, and you'll have a holiday dessert that will put any peppermint bark to shame. 10 of 16 Chocolate-Peppermint Swirl Sandwich Cookies Victori Protasio; Prop Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas; Food Styling: Torie Cox These adorable cookie sandwiches will spruce up any dessert table this Christmas. Our recipe pairs chocolate sugar cookies with a peppermint-cream-cheese filling. Achieve the swirl by adding stripes of red food coloring gel inside your piping bag. 11 of 16 Chocolate-Peppermint Crackle Cookies Linda Pugliese, Hector Sanchez; Styling: Heather Chadduck Hillegas, Buffy Hargett Miller We think Santa would be thrilled to see these crackle cookies by the tree on Christmas Eve. The dough can be prepared up to five days in advance. For the best "crackle" effect, reroll balls in powdered sugar just before baking to cover any exposed dough. 12 of 16 Mint Chocolate Chip Ice-Cream Cake Jennifer Davick This dreamy ice cream cake is the ultimate make-ahead dessert—you can use your favorite devil's food cake mix as a time saver. Layer the cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream and top with a rich chocolate ganache and chopped crème de menthe chocolate mints. 13 of 16 Red Velvet Peppermint Cake Caitlin Bensel Transform a classic red velvet cake into a festive holiday dessert by adding peppermint extract to the rich cream cheese frosting and garnishing the cake with peppermint-candy stripes. This recipe combines a yellow cake batter with the red velvet, swirling the two for a pretty interior. 14 of 16 Peppermint Pie Photographer: Frederick Hardy II, Food Stylist: Margaret Dickey, Prop Stylist: Christina Daley This cool, creamy dessert has a chocolate-cookie crust and marshmallowy, peppermint-flavored filling. While the crust requires a short pre-bake, the rest of the preparation only needs freezing before serving. You can leave out the red food coloring if desired. 15 of 16 Candy Cane Cookies Joy Howard These whimsical cookies are flavored with peppermint and twisted into candy cane shapes. A nicely chilled dough will be easier to work with when you make them. We like the pop of red and green, but other festive holiday hues like light blue or pink would also work nicely. 16 of 16 Mint Meringue Christmas Trees Greg DuPree; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones To create the Christmas trees, spoon the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe a large dollop of egg white mixture onto a baking sheet, and then pipe two slightly smaller dollops on top to create a tree shape. Decorate each tree with melted chocolate and a candy star. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit