The festive season pretty much means that you can stuff yourself silly. Obviously, we take this seriously seeing as we whip up a frenzy of sweet treats for a living. One of the cosiest things about winter setting in is enjoying a hot cocoa… with as many cookies, biscuits, candy canes as you can manage! This week’s Christmas recipe is for pink candy cane cookies that don’t need any form of cookie cutter whatsoever. For anyone who doesn’t normally obsessively bake and ice cookies having huge drawers upon drawers of cookie cutters this recipe and tutorial is going to be pretty handy. Keep reading for our cute pink peppermint candy cane cookies recipe!
Pink peppermint candy cane cookies recipe!
Ingredients and tools needed…
- 200g softened unsalted butter
- 200g caster sugar
- Peppermint extract (taste test until you’re happy with the amount)
- 1 medium sized egg lightly beaten
- 400g plain flour (plus extra to dust)
- Pink gel or paste food colour (we used Pink by Rainbow Dust)
- Cookie baking tray
- Silpat baking tray mat
- Cake smoother
- Rolling pin
- Stand-up mixer
01: In a stand-up mixer cream the butter and sugar together with the peppermint extract or essence. Make sure to mix until just combined. If you over beat the mixture this can lead to misshapened over spread cookies whilst baking. Not a good thing!
02: Add in the egg and lightly mix. Again you don’t want to over mix your ingredients. You’re also going to be adding in the dry ingredients soon which will then mix in the egg a little more.
03: Add in the flour and set your mixer to a low speed. Combine until a dough forms. You don’t need to use the dough hook for this if your stand-up mixer came with one. We always use the simple paddle attachment.
04: When a dough has formed separate it into two halves. Set one half to the side and add some pink food colouring to the half left in your mixer before then mixing it on a slow speed until it’s lovely and pink (you can colour it red or green instead too).
05: Gather up both doughs and wrap each separately with cling film before leaving them to chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour and 30 mins. It’s OK if you have loads of other things to do and end up chilling the cookie dough for 4 hours to even a full day. We’ve never had a problem with this.
06: Whilst your dough is in the fridge you’ll need to preheat your oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4.
07: When chilled remove both doughs from the fridge and knead them a little after taking out of the cling film. Flour your work surface (with plain flour) and roll out to a good thickness. For these cookies try to roll them to a thickness of 4-5mm each colour.
First roll out one colour dough and set it aside. Then roll out your other colour. When ready take one and lay i over the other dough before rolling both a little more.
08: Now you need to twist and shape them into candy canes! Take a sharp knife or a pastry cutter and cut off any ragged edges from your rolled out dough so that you’re left with a tidy rectangle or square. Then cut this piece into a series of long strips around 1 1/2cm wide each.
09: Pinch the strips of dough together along all sides so that both colours bind together.
10: Using a cake smoothing tool roll out the strips to form even ‘ropes’. You can do this by simply rolling your pinched strip of dough forward and backward with the smoother.
11: Now whilst working on your cookie tray gently twist your two toned dough to form candy cane-like stripes running up them! Try not to pick up your cookie dough. You can twist them with the palms of your hands. Roll one end of the cookie dough towards you and with your other palm roll the opposite end away from you.
12: Curl and arrange into candy cane shapes and place them in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
09: Once they’re ready and chilled you can put them in your preheated oven for around 6-10 minutes. Set your time to 6 minutes first and test them. To check if they’re ready poke one lightly. If the cookie stays dented then it needs to bake for a little longer. If the dent comes back up then they’re ready!
10: Leave to cool for around 1 hour and enjoy!
We like these cookies left plain, but if you want to add a little bit extra festive cheer why not drizzle with white candy melts and add cute sugar snowflake sprinkles? You can even dip them into melted chocolate and then sprinkle on crushed candy cane pieces!
Whilst this candy cane cookies recipe calls for a peppermint extract you can give your biscuits a whimsical taste with bubblegum flavouring or even cotton candy!
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