Peppermint candy canes recipe

Red-and-white-striped candy canes are probably the most iconic sweet of the holiday season, but on their own they aren’t all that interesting. We wanted to take the candy cane concept the big peppermint flavor, the hooked shape, and the bold stripes and reimagine it in cookie form. Two teaspoons of peppermint extract ably flavored basic butter cookies with a smooth, cool peppermint flavor. To achieve decorative stripes, we made one dough, divided it in half, and mixed red food coloring into one half. Then we rolled the portions of different colored dough into squares and stacked them before cutting them into strips. Twisting the two-toned dough strips and forming them into a cane shape gave them the classic pattern. If the dough becomes too soft to twist, simply return it to the refrigerator to firm up. You can substitute sanding sugar for the granulated sugar used to decorate the exterior of the cookies, if desired, for a super sparkly finish.