by Noreen Doll.
Candy cane cookies are fun and easy to make. It’s a great family activity.
I found this recipe in a newspaper several years ago and it became a tradition to make these candy cane cookies whenever a favorite aunt came to visit from out of town.
She made a point of coming at some time before Christmas just to be able to do some fun pre-Christmas things.
She would get quite silly while we were making the cookies, and created many funny Christmas shaped cookies. We did also make some candy cane shapes, as well.
Cream:
1/2 cup shortening (I use margerine)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
Add:
1 egg
1 teaspoon peppermint flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
Mix well and divide dough in half. Add 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring to 1/2 of the dough and mix well.
Roll 1 teaspoonful of each color of dough into 4 inch strips on lightly floured board. Place the strips side by side and twist. (I found it worked better if I rolled the strips together a bit before twisting them.)
Place on ungreased cookie sheet and curve top down for handle.
Bake about 9 minutes at 375 degrees till slightly brown on bottom.
Sprinkle with 1/2 cup crushed peppermint stick candy and 1/2 cup sugar while still warm.
My recipe says it makes about 6 dozen candy cane cookies, but that will depend on the size of the canes you make. We made them big and small, and fat and thin.
We made Santa heads with red hats and eyes. We made snowmen with red buttons and scarves. We made stockings and decorated them with the opposite color.
We never did sprinkle the crushed candy canes or sugar on them after baking.
Candy Cane Cookies are a lot of fun and we still smile remembering how much fun we have making them.
Noreen Doll
Leave a Reply