Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies

Celebrate the holiday season to the full with these delightful oat flour cookies!  Gluten-free Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies are soft, fudgy and festive. Expect rich chocolate and strong peppermint flavours with every bite. (Just like in my Chocolate Peppermint Fudge!)

These cookies are the perfect addition to a holiday cookie box. They’re so wintery, with a hint of peppermint and a dusting of icing sugar to remind you of snow.

When I put the first batch of these in the oven, I flicked the oven light on, put a couple of pillows on my kitchen floor, sat, and watched the crinkles slowly appear as these beauties baked.

I made some substitutions in this recipe to make it healthier.   I swapped all-purpose flour for oat flour and swapped butter for coconut oil.  I decreased the overall amount of sugar in this recipe as well.  You also have the option of using coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. For a similar recipe check out these Matcha Tea Crinkle Cookies.

This recipe is great for guests requiring dairy free and gluten-free treats. (My Coconut Flour Oatmeal Cookies are great for dietary restrictions as well!) Just ensure you’re using gluten-free oats and dairy-free chocolate chips if necessary.  Enjoy!

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Soft and fudgy!
• Festive and wintery recipe (Just like my Gingerbread Bundt Cake!)
• Great addition to Christmas cookie boxes
• Healthier option with oat flour, coconut oil and decreased sugar content
• Gluten free (as long as you purchase certified gluten free oats)
• Dairy free (as long as you purchase dairy free chocolate chips!)
• Freezer friendly!

Ingredients

• Coconut sugar - use either coconut sugar or brown sugar in this recipe! Both have been tested with success.
• Chocolate chips - choose dairy free chips if necessary for you.
• Peppermint extract - choose an extract specifically for baking not peppermint essential oil.
• Oat flour - if making your own oat flour at home be sure to keep blending it until it's a really fine texture. I have also tested this recipe with all-purpose flour with success!

See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

Substitutions & Variations

• Chocolate chips: swap semi sweet chocolate chips for dark chocolate, white chocolate or mint chips!
• Icing sugar: if you're trying to avoid refined sugar you can omit the icing sugar all together and you'll still have a fudgy and chocolatey cookie.
• Chopped nuts: add a little crunch to your cookies by mixing in ¼ cup of chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans to the dough.
• Coconut oil - if you don't have coconut oil on hand you can swap for unsalted butter.

I have not experimented with any other substitutions or alterations for this recipe. If you decide to make any changes by adding or substituting ingredients, I would love it if you could share your results with us by leaving a comment below.

How To Make Peppermint Crinkle Cookies

Here are the step-by-step instructions to make this recipe.

Step 1: Blend oats into oat flour and mix dry ingredients.

If you aren’t using purchased oat flour, begin by blitzing rolled oats in a blender into oat flour. Carefully measure out one cup of oat flour and pour into a medium-sized bowl.

Stir together oat flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Step 2: In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients.

In a separate small bowl, mix together sugar and melted coconut oil. Add room temperature eggs and stir until fully incorporated. Stir in 1 teaspoon peppermint extract.

Step 3: Mix wet and dry ingredients together.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. 

Step 4: Stir in chocolate chips and chill dough.

Stir in half a cup of chocolate chips and set the dough in the fridge to chill for half an hour to 45 minutes.

Step 5: Preheat the oven and roll small cookie dough balls and coat in icing sugar.

When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll small cookie dough balls, approximately 1½ tablespoons of dough. (I have found that the smaller the cookie the better the crackles look in the finished product. If you want to be precise you can weigh each ball of dough to be 30 grams)

Roll each cookie dough ball in powdered icing sugar, covering generously.  

Step 6: Bake cookies and enjoy!

 Place on the cookie sheet, 6 cookies to a sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow the cookies to fully cool and enjoy!

Expert Tips

• If you are making your own oat flour be sure to blend thoroughly. Keep blending until it's very fine.
• If you are making your own oat flour, measure carefully. This recipe calls for 1 cup of oat flour after blending,  not one cup of oats before blitzing up. This small distinction can make a big difference.
• Measure the flour carefully and accurately. The best way to do this is to spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
• This recipe calls for baking peppermint extract.  Just a note that I don’t mean peppermint essential oil.
• This is a great recipe to make a day ahead because the dough does need to chill in the fridge for a minimum of half an hour before baking. (Just like my Einkorn Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies!)
• For uniform cookies in shape and size you can weigh the cookie dough balls to be 30 grams each.
• Coat generously in icing sugar to achieve a crinkle effect.

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