These Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies take the classic holiday pairing a step further. They’re easy to make, deeply chocolatey, and effortlessly festive—rich, merry, and bright, just like the season demands.

In a world of overly produced cookies and gift boxes that make your humble human skills feel inadequate, we’re keeping things simple in this small kitchen. These Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies require exactly two decorating skills: piping the filling and drizzling a little chocolate on top. That’s it. They’re the kind of cookies you can make with the whole family without anyone getting scolded for ‘ruining the piping!.’ I guess what I’m trying to say is that this is the kind of cookie that brings family together.

Classic Christmas cookies usually fall into one of these categories: sugar cookies, gingerbread, spritz cookies, sablé, or shortbread. In the end, they’re just variations of pretty much the same dough — a simple mixture of flour, butter, and sugar. A new ingredient here, a difference in ratio there, and you suddenly have one of the cookies mentioned above.
For these, we’re using a sablé dough, which means the dough is enriched and sturdy enough to hold its shape while baking. It’s not overly sweet, so the white chocolate peppermint buttercream brings everything into balance in the final product.
Let’s go over what makes a sablé cookie such an ideal Christmas cookie!

Sablé cookies vs Shortbread

The chief difference between sablé cookies and shortbread is that sablé dough includes eggs. While both are buttery, tender, and crumbly, the egg in a sablé adds richness and creates a more delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Traditional shortbread, on the other hand, is a little crisper.

‘Sablé’ — meaning ‘sand’ in French — refers to the fine, sandy texture of these cookies. The addition of egg yolk is what sets them apart, giving them that distinct, richer feel instead of the snappy, all-butter bite you get from classic shortbread.

Traditionally, sablé dough is rolled into a log, chilled, and sliced (sometimes rolled in coarse sugar before slicing). This recipe follows more of a sugar-cookie approach: the dough is rolled out and cut into shapes.

How a Sablé Cookie Works

Sablé cookies might sound complicated, but the dough itself is one of the simplest and most reliable in baking. Traditional French sablés follow what’s known as the 1–2–3 ratio:

1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, 3 parts flour.

That’s the classic shortbread formula that gives you a cookie that’s tender, crumbly, and rich without ever being overly sweet.

Most sablés also get a little help from egg yolks, which enrich the dough and give the final cookie that sandy, melt-in-your-mouth texture the name “sablé” is known for.

For this recipe, we’re working within that same structure, just with a chocolate twist. Instead of using all flour, part of it is replaced with cocoa powder, which technically behaves like a dry ingredient and fits right into the ratio.

When you combine the flour (204g) and cocoa powder (100g), you get a total of about 304g of “flour component,” which puts this cookie right in line with the traditional sablé framework.

The butter (185g) and sugar (75g) fall neatly into that same proportional range:

Butter: rich enough to keep the dough tender
Sugar: intentionally lower, because the filling will add sweetness
Egg yolk: just one, which is all you need to bind the dough without making it cakey

To enhance the chocolate flavor, the recipe uses a bit of instant coffee. Not enough for you to taste it, but just enough to make the cookies richer. Much like salt in desserts, which is there to sharpen and balance the flavors, the coffee simply makes the chocolate taste more chocolatey.

So even though these are dressed up as Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies, the foundation underneath is a classic sablé dough: sturdy enough to hold its shape, tender enough to bite through, and neutral enough to pair perfectly with a rich peppermint buttercream.

The Filling

The filling is basically a buttercream where butter and powdered sugar are beaten together until creamy. The result is unsurprisingly sweet, but also quite one-dimensional. I wanted something a little more complex. I was looking for a filling that melts in your mouth the way a cookie sandwich should.

The easiest way to accomplish that when making buttercream is by adding melted chocolate. It gives the filling a smooth, velvety texture and adds a depth of flavor that plain butter and sugar just can’t touch. The peppermint extract gives it a holiday lift, and the crushed candy canes on top add just enough crunch and color to make them stand out.

By the time you bite into a cookie, the chocolate cookie snaps, the filling melts, and the peppermint hits at exactly the right moment. Hopefully, it’s the kind of filling that makes you want to eat another… and another!

You Might Also Like…

Guava White Chocolate Chip Cookies: sweet and tropical, and a fun twist on a classic. Perfect for when you want something a bit different.

Holiday Butter Cookies: classic, buttery, and festive. The kind of cookies that make your kitchen smell like the season.

Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies: classic, buttery cookies with an indulgent touch!

Chocolate Pots de Crème: rich, silky, and so easy to make. A simple dessert that feels luxurious.

If you make this Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I’d love to hear from you.