My husband was on a work trip when I first created this new candy cane sugar cookie recipe. So, after hearing all about them on the phone the night before he was astonished to discover they were gone when he got home. “How could all of those cookies be gone in a day?” he wondered. “How many cookies did you girls eat?” No one said anything for a moment or two. Because it felt like they sort of disappeared from the kitchen cake stand.
It was early November so it would have been a stretch to say it was Santa. Perhaps an elf checking in? The truth is none of us really understood how they were all gone in less than twenty-four hours. Finally, my oldest daughter broke the silence “They were just too good.”
Consequently, the next time I was testing a batch of these cookies I made sure my husband was home and I made more. But once again those candy cane cookies began to disappear. As we were sitting at the dinner table eating the last of the cookies my husband was musing about what made these cookies vanish so quickly. “They’re crispy, sweet, but not too sweet and easy to eat in a bite or two.” So, as we discovered these little cookies make the perfect snack anytime you walk through the kitchen. After all who’s going to miss one little cookie.
Candy Cane Sugar Cookies -Makes 50 cookies
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
- 2 oz full fat cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 cups flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp red gel food coloring
- 1 tablespoon flour
Cookie Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 5 TBSP water
- ½ tsp vanilla or peppermint extract
- Sparkling sugar sprinkles
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In the large bowl of a stand mixer using a paddle attachment cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar together at medium speed for about 3 minutes. Then add in the egg and vanilla and mix in on low speed until incorporated.
Then add the milk, the flour and the salt. Continue to mix at on low until the cookie dough comes together.
Take the dough and form it into a ball and then divide that ball in half. Place one half to the side and add one half back to the mixer. Then add in ½ tsp red gel food coloring and mix on low speed until the dough becomes evenly red. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and mix. The food coloring makes the dough a bit sticky so this extra bit of flour helps to make it easier to work with.
Place the white and red cookie dough balls on a silicon baking mat or lightly flour surface and divide them into four balls two of each color. Dividing the dough into two batches makes it easier to work with.
Now the fun part, making the candy canes. Pinch tablespoon sized pieces off the red and white dough. Each tablespoon of dough will make two 5 to 6 inch long ropes that are about the diameter of a standard pencil.
Take a red and white rope and braid or twist the two pieces back and forth so they come together evenly. Then gently roll each twist a so they come together and bend the top to shape them into a candy cane.
Then place the cookies on baking stone or a baking pan liked with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for about 5 to 7 minutes until the white part of the dough just barely turns golden. I found that 6 minutes was perfect in my oven but ovens can very so keep a close eye on them as they bake.
While the cookies are cooling make the powered sugar glaze. In a medium sized bowl whisk together 2 cups of powdered sugar, 5 tablespoons of water and ½ tsp vanilla or peppermint extract until smooth.
Decorate the candy canes by dipping the cookie in the glaze and then let then spread a thin and even layer with your finger.
Then give them a bakery style finish by dipping them glaze side down into a small plate of sparkling sugar sprinkles.
This give these little candy canes a sweet confectionery shop finish.
I hope you love these Christmas cookies as much as our family does. They are a variation of my traditional frosted sugar cookies. So, if you like those cookies you will love these. They are fun to make and especially great for little hands to help decorate. There’s no piping of icing but they’re still festive and irresistibly good. These cookies would be wonderful to share. As long as you can keep them from disappearing.
