Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

close up overhead shot of Candy Cane Cookies on a cooling rack

5 from 1 vote

These peppermint-flavored candy cane cookies are sweet festive treats for the holiday season, don’t forget to add them to your baking list!

Prep Time30

Cook Time7

Chill Time1

Total Time1 37

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Candy Cane Cookies Recipe

Servings: cookies

Calories: 179kcal

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 large egg, room temperature
1½ teaspoons pure peppermint extract
1¼ teaspoons clear vanilla flavoring
⅛ teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon red squeeze gel color

Instructions

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer on medium-high speed, cream the unsalted butter for 1½ to 2 minutes in a large bowl.
Reduce the mixing speed to low, and add the granulated sugar, cream of tartar, and heavy cream. Increase the mixing speed to medium speed and continue to mix for 2 to 3 minutes or until the butter mixture is fluffy.
Reduce the mixing speed to low and add the egg. Mix until well incorporated.
Add the peppermint extract and clear vanilla flavoring.
Keeping the mixer speed low, slowly add the baking powder and all-purpose flour ½ cup at a time. Continue mixing just until the flour is well incorporated and no visible streaks of flour are showing.
Divide the cookie dough into 2 equal dough balls. Return 1 dough ball to the mixing bowl to be colored red. Cover the dough ball that is to be the white part of the candy cane cookie and place it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Add the ½ teaspoon red gel color to the dough that is left in the mixing bowl. Using the mixer on low speed, mix the red coloring into the dough until it has a uniform color and no white streaks are visible.
Place the red dough in a medium-sized bowl and cover the red dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Just before removing the chilled dough balls from the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Split the red and white dough in half, leaving half of each color in the refrigerator.
Cover your counter or a cutting board with a sheet of parchment paper. This is to keep from staining the counter or cutting board red.
Using a ½ tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop out two dough balls, one from the white and one from the red. Roll each into a tight round ball. Put the dough balls back in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Use your hand to roll the red and white dough balls into 5-inch long ropes. It is very important that your hands stay cool while you are rolling the ropes.
Lightly press the bottoms of the 2 ropes together. Carefully and with light pressure, twist the ropes together. Be sure to keep the ropes rounded and do not flatten them out.
Place the twisted rope onto the prepared baking sheet and curve the rope tops into the candy cane shape. Repeat the dough ball and twisting process with the remaining dough. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
Bake cookies for 7 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool.
Take the other ½ of the red and white dough out of the refrigerator and repeat steps 12 through 17.

Video

Notes

Don't skip chilling the dough, as this will help minimize the spread of the cookies while baking and preserve the candy cane shape.
This dough is much easier to work with when chilled. If you are finding it tricky to work with, pop it in the fridge to cool down for a bit before continuing.
Oven temperatures vary and may need to be recalibrated periodically to ensure they are accurate. Make sure to keep a close eye on your cookies as the suggested baking time approaches.

Nutrition