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It isn’t Christmas without a batch of Candy Cane Cookies! They are such a classic for the holiday season, and so fun to make.
What’s to love
- Easy, versatile dough. It’s easy to make and only requires a short chilling time – and the Christmas Pinwheel Cookies use exactly the same dough, so you can make two kinds of cookies at the same time!
- Make them your own. The very old fashioned recipes for candy cane cookies called for almond extract, which is what we are doing to use in this recipe. Feel free to substitute peppermint extract if that’s what you prefer!
- Festive cheer. The candy canes make any cookie plate look extra festive. Use red decorating sugar for a more classic look, or go for crushed candy canes for some fun decor!
These may just be Santa’s favorites 😉
Printable Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (softened)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract (OR peppermint; if your almond extract is very concentrated, start with ½ teaspoon)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon red food coloring (or less if you have a more concentrated food coloring (gel coloring works best, and needs 1 teaspoon for a great color))
For Sprinkling (optional):
- ½ cup (each) regular sugar and red decorating sugar (OR crushed peppermint candies) (combined in a shallow dish)
Tips
- Dough consistency: Your dough should be quite soft and pliable. If it’s dry and cracking a lot during rolling, it’s likely that either your egg was a little smaller or you accidentally added a bit too much flour (which happens easily!). Add one or two tablespoons of milk, which should solve the problem. On the other hand, if your red dough is a bit too sticky due to the food coloring, knead in a few teaspoons more flour.
- Chilling: This recipe purposefully chills the cookies AFTER shaping them. a) it’s easier and neater to shape the cookies when the dough is warm (it breaks and cracks more easily when chilled), b) it takes a lot less time to chill and c) the dough and cookie sheets are thoroughly chilled when the cookies hit the oven (vs getting warmed up by hands etc) for best shape retention.
- Sugar sprinkling: To make the sugar stick better, you can instead brush the cooled cookies with a thin powdered sugar glaze before sprinkling. I don’t do this because it slightly mutes the red, but I know many people who swear by it.
Instructions
Make cookie dough:
- Cream butter and sugar:Place butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer or in your stand mixer until well combined.1 cup butter, 1 cup granulated sugar
- Cream with egg:Add the egg and extracts, then beat until the egg is fully combined – do not mix any longer than necessary, or your cookies may turn out tough. It will look scraggly, that's fine.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon almond extract
- Mix dry ingredients:Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- Combine cookie dough:Gradually add the dry mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined – do not overmix, you just want it to come together.
- Divide cookie dough: Tip out half of the cookie dough mix on your work surface and knead a few times until smooth. Set aside.
- Color the dough:Add the red food coloring to the remaining half of cookie dough in your mixing bowl and mix on low speed until fully incorporated. Add more coloring if needed to reach a bright red color.1 teaspoon red food coloring
Shape cookies:
- Divide each color cookie dough into about 8 pieces and roll, one at a time, into long ropes on a lightly floured surface (do not use too much flour or your candy canes will end up looking unappealing; keep remaining dough under a clean tea towel to keep it from drying out). Cut the logs into 4-5 inch pieces.
- For each cookie set a red and a white rope of dough next to each other, then twist together.
- Place on lined baking sheets (set cookies 2 inches apart) and curve one end to form the handle of the candy cane.Chill the shaped cookies for 30 minutes. Proceed in the same manner until all candy canes are shaped.
Bake cookies:
- Heat oven to 375°F. Once hot, bake chilled cookies (one tray at a time!) for 8-10 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the sugar or peppermint candy mixture (see notes). Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.Store in cookie tins at room temperature for about 1 week.½ cup (each) regular sugar and red decorating sugar (OR crushed peppermint candies)
Candy Cane Cookies
make your kitchen smell like home?Candy Cane Cookies FAQs
Gel colors work best when incorporating into a cookie dough.
Food coloring drops can work, too, but it’s a little more work to get the color distributed, which can result in overworked dough.
This is likely due to the dough being too dry. This can happen if the egg you add is a little smaller, or if you accidentally added too much flour.
Gently knead in a few tablespoons of milk to make the dough more pliable.
It’s also possible for the dough to dry out while you’re rolling it. To keep this from happening, keep all the dough you’re not actively working with under plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel.
This is a cookie that doesn’t freeze well – the finished cookies are too delicate. And freezing the dough makes it a lot harder to work into the candy cane shapes once defrosted. It’s best to bake these fresh.
Perfect to serve with
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Rebecca R Daly says
In your instructions, you indicate to add egg, vanilla & cream……….there’s no mention of ‘cream’ in your list of ingredients…………did you mean to say almond extract??
Nora says
Rebecca, the “cream” was meant to indicated creaming the ingredients together with the mixer. I realize this was too confusing, so I slightly altered the directions to be more clear. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, I really appreciate it!
Rebecca Daly says
Thanks so much for your quick reply; appreciate. Just wanted to be sure.
Nora says
Glad to be of help. Merry Christmas to you and yours!