Easy Brownie Cut-Out Cookies with Peppermint Icing
The following post may contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra charge to you. To learn more about this, please visit my Disclaimer page. Thank you for your continued support!
Every year around Christmas, I get the itch to make sugar cookies and eat all the chocolate and peppermint I can find. So, I combined all three holiday loves into a single recipe: easy-to-make brownie cut-out cookies with peppermint royal icing.
Choose Your Own Adventure: Slice-and-Bake or Cut-Out Cookies
I have tested this recipe two different ways.
The first was forming the dough into a log for slice-and-bake cookies. This is the easiest of the two methods.
The second way is to roll the dough out and use a cookie cutter. This way is more fun for kids who want to play with dough.
Easy Brownie Cookie Ingredients
For the cookies, there’s only one semi-fancy ingredient, and you can usually find it at the grocery store: Dark Cocoa Powder. Regular baking cocoa powder doesn’t quite hit the same, just so you know.
Unsalted Butter – You know the drill. We use unsalted butter so we can control how salty our cookies are. Is salted butter a deal breaker? No, but your cookies may be briny instead of brownie.
Granulated Sugar – This is just plain old regular sugar.
Large Eggs – Doesn’t matter if you get free range, pastured, or factory-farm (…I just mean for this recipe. The ethical dilemma you may or may not have is not my department), you just need large eggs. Preferably from a chicken; I have not tested with duck eggs.
Vanilla Extract – I go back and forth between being bougie and getting my vanilla extract from Java Sisters because it’s the highest quality and better for the environment and just grabbing the bottle at Costco. Whatever you have…
All Purpose Flour – Just the regular old flour. Nothing too fancy here.
Dark Cocoa Powder – I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder. The cookies end up having an Oreo-type flavor, and you just don’t get that with baking cocoa.
Baking Soda – This is our leavening agent. It helps the cookies lift a bit so they’re not as hard as a rock.
Salt – You need salt in a sweet treat to give the flavors dimension. But take it easy; you don’t need a lot.
What’s in Mint Royal Icing?
The mint royal icing is ridiculously quick and easy, and we don’t have to deal with whipping egg whites.
Powdered sugar – This is also called Confectioner’s Sugar. It’s an ultra-fine sugar mixed with a bit of cornstarch, and it’s used in a lot of frostings and icings.
Meringue powder – I prefer using meringue powder over whipping egg whites to stiff peaks because I’m lazy and don’t want to waste eggs. You can find it in the baking aisle at the grocery store or in the baking aisle of your nearest craft store, like Michaels or Joann.
Water – You need ice-cold water. I get a glass of ice water and dip out my tablespoons from there. You may need a little more than 8 Tablespoons once you’re testing your icing consistency, so I would just get a glass. Then drink the rest when you’re done making the icing because you probably need water.
Vanilla extract or Vanilla paste – If you use paste, you’ll have little black vanilla bean flecks in your icing which is neat. Either option is usually available in the grocery store, or you can order from Java Sisters and use my code for a discount. It’s ELLEJAYATHOME10 for 10% off your order.
Mint extract – You barely need any of this to get a nice mint flavor. Any more and it starts to taste like toothpaste. So, start with a few drops and taste it to see how you like it. Don’t go overboard.
Red food coloring – I included the instructions for making the red peppermint swirl, so that’s where the red food coloring comes in. I used Watkins red food coloring which is made from vegetables. My kid reacts poorly to Red-40. I’m not demonizing. It just doesn’t work for our family.
Tools to Make Easy Brownie Cookies
My cookie recipes usually have the same tool kit, so if you’ve made cookies with me before, or if you just love baking, you probably already have these things.
Stand Mixer – My trusty Kitchen Aid stand mixer has a lot of miles on it. Obviously, you can use a big mixing bowl, a whisk, a spatula, and pure upper body strength instead, but I’m lazy.
Sheet Pan – I rely on commercial half-sheet pans for most of my recipes. If you have an air bake pan or something else, you’re going to have to use your best judgment for how many cookies will fit and if the time needs to be adjusted.
Silicone Baking Mat – Instead of parchment paper, I use silicone baking mats. It saves me some trash because they’re reusable. If you’d rather avoid doing dishes and use parchment paper, do your thing.
Piping Bags – While I’m off using reusable silicone baking mats, I’m using disposable piping bags. That’s mostly because they’re a pain to wash, and they break so easily anyway. These ones come in this giant roll, and they work for icing and almost everything else I could want a piping bag for.
Do You Need Special Skills to Ice Your Brownie Cut-Out Cookies?
The closest thing to a “special skill” you may need is the patience to pipe icing. I’ve included the instructions in the recipe, but as you can see from the photos, I’m not a great cookie decorator.
If yours come out perfect, I am so proud of you! If yours come out a pink swirly mess, I’m still so proud of you for putting some effort in and taking time for yourself to bake something. The point of all my recipes is to take time for yourself and enjoy a treat for your effort.
My mailing list is currently offline because I failed to keep up with sending a regular newsletter… but I gotta end with this. That way when I do fix that, I’m not trying to figure out which posts are missing a comment and subscribe block. HA! Anyway, here’s the recipe. Love you, bye!
Comment below if you have questions, concerns, or opinions. And tag me @ellejayathome on Instagram or Twitter if you share pictures from any of my recipes. I love to hear from you!
Easy Brownie Cookies with Mint Icing
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle and whisk attachments
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper
- Silicone baking sheet
Ingredients
Brownie Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup dark cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
Mint Royal Icing
- 2 Tbsp meringue powder
- 4 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 8 Tbsp ice cold water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 drops mint extract
- ⅛ tsp red food coloring
Instructions
Brownie Cookies
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Cream the room temperature butter with the sugar until fluffy. Then mix in each egg, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
- Incorporate the dry mixture, but do not over mix.
IF YOU WANT SLICE-AND-BAKE COOKIES…
- Dump the dough onto a piece of parchment paper, aiming to get it in a log shape. Roll it in the paper, and then roll the bundle like a snake to distribute the dough log evenly. Twist up the ends of the parchment and refrigerate the dough overnight.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Unwrap your dough, and place on a floured surface. Gently roll the dough again to make sure the edges are smooth. Slice into 24 cookies.
- Set 1 dozen cookies on a lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Move to a cooling rack, and repeat with the remaining dough. Allow them to cool completely.
IF YOU WANT CUT OUT COOKIES…
- Form the dough into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour, and then roll your cookie dough out to about a ¼-inch thick. Using any shape cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place them on a cookie sheet with about an inch between each one. Reform the dough and roll it out again and again, lightly dusting with flour as needed. Cut out cookies until you can’t anymore.
- Bake your cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes for cookies approximately 3 inches wide. For smaller cookies, start at 8 minutes. For larger cookies, check at 12, but you may need to go to 15 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
Mint Royal Icing
- In a large mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, water, and extracts. Whisk thoroughly.
- Continue to whisk until icing slowly trails off whisk in a continuous ribbon. It should all run back into a smooth surface in about 10-15 seconds.
- Transfer roughly ¾ of the icing to a piping bag. To the remaining icing, add in red food coloring for your peppermint swirl design. Transfer the red icing to a separate piping bag. (Tip: I use twist ties to close off my bags)
- Snip a small corner off the white icing bag. Begin piping circles onto each cookie. Then, snip the corner a little larger and flood each cookie.
- For the red peppermint swirl, snip a small tip off the red icing bag. Pipe an X and then an additional line through the X on each cookie (so there are 3 lines through the center). Then use a toothpick to swirl the icing starting in the center and working your way out.
- Allow the icing to set before serving.
3 Comments
Mechelle
Brownies as a cookie is always fun!😃
Alyssa
These look AMAZING! I will totally be making these now.
Patricia @ Grab a Plate
First, how amazing that you have such wonderful neighbors! Always a blessing! Now these cookies…. they really make me want to be your neighbor so you’d share!