Ingredients
**Dough Ingredients**
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or to taste)
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Red gel food coloring
Instructions
1. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.
2. Add egg, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Mix until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk flour and salt, then gradually add to the butter mixture.
4. Divide dough in half. Leave one half white and tint the other red using gel food coloring.
5. Wrap each dough separately in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.
6. Roll each dough into ropes (about 4–5 inches long), twist red and white together, and form into candy cane shapes.
7. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill 10 minutes more.
8. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 8–10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let cool on pan 5 minutes, then transfer to rack.
Notes
Use gel food coloring to avoid sticky dough.
Chilling helps the cookies retain their shape during baking.
For a sparkly finish, roll shaped dough in coarse sanding sugar before baking.
Cookies can be made in advance and frozen unbaked or baked.
Skip peppermint for a vanilla twist or try cocoa for a chocolate variation.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 110
- Sugar: 6g
- Sodium: 40mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 10g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 20mg