Description
These Candy Cane Shortbread Cookies are a soft, light butter cookie with an optional hint of peppermint flavor. Shaped like candy canes, they are quite the festive cookie for the holiday season. The best part about these cookies? They are made from a no-chill dough, making these cookies quicker than many!
Ingredients
Scale
- 3/4 cup (165g) unsalted butter
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (optional)
- 1 2/3 cups (234g) all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (90g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- red food dye
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat room temperature butter and the egg yolk together on medium-high speed until combined.
- Add vanilla extract and peppermint extract to the batter. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl.
- Slowly, mix flour, powdered sugar, and salt into the batter. Only mix until you see the dry ingredients fully disappear into the batter. Again, scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl, and mix one more time until the batter is smooth.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts. Add desired amount of red food dye to one of the dough halves. Ensure that there are no streaks of dye in the dough.
- Roll the dough into about 1 tablespoon-sized balls.
- Take one white dough ball and one red dough ball. Roll them into about 7 inch logs. The logs do not need to be perfectly even across.
- Press the ends of one side of the white and red logs together. Take the bottom log and carefully place it over the top log. Then, take the new bottom log and place it over the new top log. Repeat this process until you the dough is fully twisted. Lightly press this end of the each log together.
- Carefully, take the top of the log and curve it to create the candy cane shape. Transfer the candy cane to your prepared pan. Repeat this process with the remaining dough balls. You should have about 14 candy canes total.
- Bake the candy canes for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the candy cane are starting to turn light golden brown, the tops look slightly soft, and the bottom of the cookie is golden brown when lifted off the pan using a spatula.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack or a plate to finish cooling. Store cookies tightly covered or in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Keywords: candy cane cookies, holiday cookies, peppermint cookies, christmas cookies, shortbread cookies