Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

One of the best parts about the holiday season is that it gives you an excuse to bake treats that you’d otherwise try to avoid. Yup, even during finals! I made the biggest batch of cookies in the history of my solo baking career (a very short span of a year from the time I had my first kitchen away from home). After trying out a few different tricks playing around with the dough I finally perfected it. These cookies are the perfect balance of sweet and minty!

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I had never used this kind of cookie cutter before – you push it onto the dough and press down on the knob on top and when you want to release the shape onto the tray you pull it up again. Yeah, it’s not as easy as that. I definitely still prefer the traditional cookie cutters but love the little details that you get with these. The snowmen and the trees came out the best, the candy canes had so many different little details that the dough kept getting stuck in the cookie cutters, and I was only able to manage getting a few semi-decent looking reindeer (which my family politely laughed at and called buffalos…)

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But all in all, these cookies were so easy to make (and even easier to devour) that they didn’t even make it until Christmas. Yup, over 100 cookies have already been eaten between me, my friends and family… Oops!

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Do yourself a favor and make this recipe. All you need is a box of candy canes and ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry!

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Just be sure to share, because this recipe does yield literally 100 cookies (if you make them as small as I did.) Of course, this would vary based on the size of your cookie cutters!

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Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

Prep Time: 20 Minutes        Cook Time: 1 hour + 7-8 Minutes per batch        Total Time: 2 hours

Let’s Get Started:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
10 candy canes, crushed

Let’s Get Cookin:

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and chill dough for at least an hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough with a rolling pin on a floured surgace 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookies sheets. Bake about 7 minutes in oven. Cool and enjoy.

Let’s Get Creative:

White chocolate chips would be delicious in this recipe! As would other colorful sprinkles, of course. 🙂

Stay Classy & Happy Holidays! xx