1 cup confectioners sugar, plus 1/2 cup for dusting prep surface
1 egg
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Red food coloring
Parchment Paper
Icing - 2 cups confectioners sugar
Icing - 3 tablespoons milk
Icing - 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, cream butter and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and extracts. Stir in flour and salt. Divide dough in half, adding about 8 drops of food coloring to half (you want a rich red color for the dough). Refrigerate both doughs for 20 minutes. When chilled, take a rounded teaspoon of one color of dough and roll into a 5-inch snake on a surface dusted lightly with confectioners' sugar. Repeat with the other color dough. When you have a strand of each, lay them side by side, pinch the top together slightly, gently twist one strand around the other and pinch the ends. Curl one end down to form a candy cane shape and transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Refrigerate remaining dough while cookies are baking, then repeat process with remaining dough. The cooler the dough, the less it will spread in the oven. Bake each sheet for 12 to 15 minutes, watching to make sure the edges don't brown. Transfer parchment paper and cookies all at once to a wire rack to cool.
While the cookies cool, combine all icing ingredients until smooth. Add more milk or more sugar as needed to achieve a drizzling consistency. Use a fork to drizzle the icing over the top of each cookie. For extra flair, before icing sets, sprinkle with colored sugar or finely chopped peppermint candies.
Originally Submitted
12/15/2008
0 Out of 5 from
0 reviews
You can add this Candy Cane Twists recipe to your own private DesktopCookbook.
