Candy Cane Cookies

Betty Crocker recently sent out a newsletter containing 25 of their best holiday cookie recipes. I really wanted to try another variation of Candy Cane cookies as my last attempt turned into delicious yet flat and breakable candy cane pancakes! I wanted nice bulky candy cane cookies and the Betty Crocker recipe worked out beautifully. It's a little time consuming as you have to roll balls of dough into thin logs then twist them and shape them into canes. I am not good at any type of baking that requires dexterity or delicacy so this was a bit of a challenge for me. Also, I stained my hands red the last time I made these cookies because I mixed in the red food coloring by hand into already prepared dough. SO this time, I split the recipe in half and mixed the red food coloring into melted butter and avoided stained skin. The original recipe calls for letting the dough sit for 4 hours. If you want to do that, knock yourself out, but I didn't think that was necessary.

I hope you'll give this a try. It's a simple recipe that is suited perfectly for the holidays and gives you delicious and eye-catching results. Happy Holidays!


White Peppermint Cookie Dough
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter melted
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 cup milk
1/2 an egg
1-3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt

Red Peppermint Cookie Dough
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter melted
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon of red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1/2 an egg
1-3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt

Finely crushed candy canes for sprinkling (optional)

-----

Preheat oven to 360 degrees

You can simultaneously make both cookie doughs. Start with two bowls and mix flours, baking powders, sugars and salt in each.

In two small microwaveable bowls, melt 2 sticks of butter (1 per bowl). Let cool. Then stir in peppermint extract and vanilla in both and then red food coloring in one. Set aside.

Take one jumbo egg (or if you have two small eggs use 1 per dough) and whisk. Carefully pour half of the egg into each bowl.

Add milk and butter mixtures to both bowls. Mix batter thoroughly. Don't use a wooden spoon for the red dough because you'll end up with a red spoon!

Scoop small spoonfulls of each batter and roll into 1 inch balls. Then roll them between your hands into long 3 or 4-inch ropes. But one white and one red rope side by side and roll them together. Twist them a bit then roll. Twist them more and roll. Don't put too pressure at this point as you want them to stay that original length. When the roll is swirled so it looks like a candy cane swirl, add to a foil-lined baking sheet and curl the top so it looks like a cane. You can pinch the ends if you want but it's not necessary.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Take out and immediately sprinkle with crushed candy canes. You need to do this to hot cookies or they won't stick. Let cool and enjoy!