Peppermint meltaways are the ultimate Christmas cookie, delivering a melt-in-your-mouth texture that feels like pure magic. They look festive, but the real reason people keep coming back for them is the way they feel when you take a bite—light, creamy, cooling, and nostalgic all at once.
Peppermint Meltaway Ingredients
What makes these special is how few ingredients you need and how quickly they come together.
We worked hard to nail the balance that makes these meltaway cookies work: a soft butter base, sweetened condensed milk for creaminess and structure, and cornstarch doing the heavy lifting to create that instantly-melting crumb.
The frosting matches the cookie: light, smooth, mint-cooled, and easy to adjust to your perfect peppermint strength.
Tips We Learned Testing This Peppermint Meltaway Recipe
Start with one cup of cornstarch only.
The structure of these cookies comes almost entirely from cornstarch. The dough should resemble thick peanut butter—scoopable, soft, and not greasy. Start with one cup of cornstarch. If it’s sticky or too loose to scoop cleanly, add one tablespoon of cornstarch at a time then adjust.
Use truly soft butter.
Because there’s no flour in this recipe, the butter’s texture drives the entire dough. It needs to be very soft but not melted. You should be able to press your finger into it with almost no resistance.
If it’s too cold, the condensed milk won’t blend smoothly and you’ll end up with lumps. If it’s too warm, the cookies can spread too much.
Adjust the frosting peppermint carefully.
Peppermint extract can easily overpower delicate desserts. Start small (½ teaspoon in the dough, ⅛ teaspoon in the frosting), then taste and adjust. The frosting amplifies flavor more than the cookies do, so go slow — you can always add, but you can’t take away.
How to Get the Cookie’s Texture Just Right
- Cream the butter, condensed milk, and extract until perfectly smooth. This step determines the final cookie structure. You don’t want any visible butter pieces—those create dense spots.
- Mix the cornstarch on low only until the dough comes together. Over-mixing isn’t a big risk here since there’s no flour, but gentle mixing keeps the dough soft and prevents compacting.
- Use a scoop for the cookie batter. Even sizing means even baking, which is important because these cookies go from pale to lightly golden at the edges very quickly.
- Cool completely before frosting. Warm cookies cause the butter-based frosting to slide or melt. Let them fully cool so the frosting glides on smoothly and holds its shape.
Frosting Notes
- If the frosting is too thick: add heavy cream one teaspoon at a time.
- If too thin: add powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time.
- Cool the cookies completely before frosting. Warm cookies cause the butter-based frosting to slide or melt.
- When spreading, aim for a clean “dollop and swirl” look—these cookies are small, so two teaspoons of frosting per cookie is the ideal amount.
Serving Ideas
This peppermint meltaway recipe makes just over a dozen cookies and the perfect amount of frosting for them. Double both the dough and frosting if you’re filling a holiday platter.
Serve these with cocoa, peppermint mochas, or on a dessert tray alongside richer cookies—brownies, gingerbread, or chocolate peppermint bark.
These cookies pair beautifully with a hot cup of peppermint tea or even a creamy hot cocoa.
Storage Instructions
Peppermint meltaways are best the day they’re made. Their texture softens slightly as they sit, so serving them within 24 hours gives you the true meltaway experience.
- Room temperature: Store in a single layer in an airtight container for up to four days.
- Fridge: Not recommended—the cold dulls the peppermint and can make the texture gummy.
- Freezer: Avoid freezing. They’re too delicate and lose their signature crumble.
More Peppermint Recipes You’ll Love
Peppermint Meltaways
Ingredients
Cookies
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, very soft room temperature
- ⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 cup cornstarch, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons
Frosting
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 ½ tablespoons heavy cream
- ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract, amount depends of preferred peppermint flavor
Garnish
- peppermint candies, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- To a medium bowl add the unsalted butter, sweetened condensed milk and peppermint extract. Using a handheld mixer on medium-high speed, beat together until smooth and no lumps of butter remain.
- To the bowl add the cornstarch and mix on low speed until fully incorporated and the batter is smooth.
- Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out a level scoop and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Be sure to leave 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake the peppermint meltaway cookies for 10 -12 minutes or just until lightly golden around the edges.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely on the counter before frosting them.
- While the cookies are baking and cooling you can make the frosting by adding to a medium bowl the powdered sugar, melted butter, heavy cream and peppermint extract.
- Beat the mixture until thick and smooth. The frosting should be spreadable but should hold its shape when added to the cookies. You can add a little extra heavy cream (1 teaspoon at a time) if too thick, or extra powdered sugar (1-2 tablespoons at a time) if too thin.
- Frost each cookie with approximately 2 teaspoons of frosting and sprinkle with the crushed peppermint candy for garnish before plating and serving.
Notes
- When making this cookie dough, start with 1 cup of the cornstarch. If the dough is too soft and sticky, you can add 1-2 tablespoons of additional cornstarch to get your dough to a consistency (like a thick peanut butter) that can be scooped and hold its shape but not too thick. If you add too much cornstarch your cookies will not taste very good, too little and the cookies will spread too much when baked.
- This recipe only makes a single dozen cookies and just enough frosting for a small batch of cookies. You can easily double both the cookie batter and the frosting recipe if desired.
- You can crush up candy canes for the garnish or peppermint star candies if making these during a season that you can not find candy canes.
- You want your butter to be at a very soft room temperature but not melted. You should be able to push your finger through it easily. If your butter is too firm, you can microwave it for 5-8 seconds just to warm it slightly. This makes it blend well with the sweetened condensed milk.
- When making your frosting, start with ⅛ teaspoon then taste for preferred flavor before adding an additional ⅛ teaspoon.
Nutrition
Comments
Gloria says
These are very good!!
Brenda says
Very good cookies and frosting! I did add extra half and half to the frosting so it was easier to spread.