Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies with Buttercream

Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies with buttercream are Santa-approved. I’ve dressed up a soft and fluffy cake mix cookie with peppermint buttercream.  They are perfect for any holiday cookie platter or for snacking on after a marathon wrapping session!

If you’re looking for more cookies to leave out for Santa I’ve heard firsthand that he likes Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies and Soft-Baked Christmas Sprinkle Cookies along with a mug of Butterscotch Schnapps Spiked Hot Chocolate.

Christmas Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies

Last Saturday I spent 16 hours in my kitchen!  I made a Red Velvet Rose Cake for my aunt’s surprise 70th birthday and I made several batches of holiday cookies.

When you are doing that much in one day, they have to be easy…….if you know me, you know I’m all about doing things the easy way! 😉 Check out my 10 Tips for Holiday Cookie Baking

I first shared these Christmas cake mix cookies over at Katrina’s Kitchen. They are one of my favorite “go-to” cookies with a Christmas twist……Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies with Buttercream!

Cake mix cookies are so simple, and chances are you have everything you need to make them – any flavor cake mix, oil, and eggs! That’s it!  For super quick and easy you can top them with canned frosting, or no frosting and add a little Cool Whip to the batter and roll in powdered sugar as I did for Lemon Burst cookies.  It’s such a versatile recipe, it’s easy to change it up like I did this year for my holiday cookie platter.

I couldn’t decide between chocolate or vanilla Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies, so I made a batch of each.

How To Make Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies With Buttercream

(full printable recipe at the end of this post)

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, 2 eggs, and vegetable or canola oil and mix using an electric mixer until well combined.
3. Form cookie dough into 1-inch balls (I like to use a cookie scoop so they are all the same size) and place on a prepared cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven for approximately 9 minutes.
4. Let the cookies cool and then frost with peppermint buttercream frosting.

FOR THE PEPPERMINT BUTTERCREAM:

1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, whip butter for 8 minutes on medium speed (I set my KitchenAid mixer on speed 4). Butter will become pale and creamy.
2. Add remaining ingredients (see notes about food color) and mix on low speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. Frosting will be very light and fluffy.

Using an off-set spatula frost each cookie, and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.

Notes and Tips For Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies

• Frosting is best used right away for ideal spreading consistency.
• My frosting is pink because I used a little red gel food color – you could use pink, green or even leave it white.
• This is NOT a crusting buttercream, so the frosting will not harden. I left them out overnight before I packaged them. If you’d rather have a more firm buttercream, you could use this recipe for quick crusting buttercream and add peppermint extract.
• You could add peppermint extract to the cookie dough.  If you do this, I would replace the peppermint extract in the frosting with vanilla extract,

These Peppermint Cake Mix Cookies with Buttercream were part of the 2nd annual I’ll Bring the Cookies virtual cookie party, where 23 bloggers are sharing a different cookie recipe every day in December before Christmas. There are some pretty fabulous bakers joining in,  be sure to bookmark it so you don’t miss a single crumb!

What cookies do you bake every year?  Do you try new recipes or stick with only what you know they love?