Candy Cane Cut Out Sugar Cookies

Just a taaaad bit early, I hope you can forgive me for sharing my jolly St. Nick cookies with you in early November!

I plan hope to be sharing my Christmas sweets with you weekly and have had this Santa cutter for a few years so was excited to finally decorate these.

Ingredients

• 2 cups unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup crushed candy cane

Instructions

1. Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low to medium speed. (Use the paddle attachment). Mix until thoroughly incorporated - for about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more. Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you'd like a light and fluffy cookie, that's ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you'd like the cookie to hold its shape.
2. Add eggs slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again. Add vanilla extract. Stir briefly.
3. Sift your dry ingredients together. (Flour and salt). Add all of the flour mixture to the bowl. Place a large tea towel between the edge of the bowl and the electric mixer so that the flour won't escape. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Remove the tea towels and observe the dough mixing; when it starts to come together add the crushed candy cane and mix until the dough clumps around the paddle attachment. The dough should peel away from the sides of the mixer and clump around the paddle attachment. You can also test the dough by pinching it between your thumb and index finger. If it’s soft but not sticky, it’s just right. If it’s too sticky when you pinch it between your fingers, add flour, ¼ cup at a time, and mix until you’re happy with the texture. There are various reasons why a dough can be too dry or too sticky, ranging from humidity in the environment, to what kind of flour you use, the fat content of the butter etc., however, there are ways to fix the issues if you run into them. Already mentioned, add flour if your dough is too sticky, and if it’s too dry, make sure you’ve mixed it as best as you can first, and if it’s still too dry, add a little water or milk until your dough comes together.
4. Add your candy cane bits and mix until just incorporated. The longer you mix the pinker the dough will get, so mix until you like the color. (Again, mixing the dough too long can cause more spreading when cookies are baked though).
5. Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 1 hour.
6. Cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat. If your dough gets too soft to work with, place in the fridge or freezer periodically to firm up again.
7. ................................................

For full instructions please see : sweetopia.net

Share this post