This year I took part in the Blogger Cookie Swap. My intial reason to take part in this is because I am just learning the realms of baking. I have done fairly well at conquering my need to grow as a cook over the last few years, but I have not touched the baking world very much. I thought baking cookies would be a step in the right direction. Not to mention, how fun is it to bake and send cookies to fellow blogging friends? I really enjoyed this and the recipe was tasty as well.
The recipe I adapted from a Christmas Cookies recipe book that my grandma gave me a while back. It’s an old book, but full of wonderful recipes. This recipe I’ll be sharing with you can be shaped into individual candy canes; however, since I shipped these I was afraid the candy canes would break in half, so I opted to make drop cookies instead.
Once I had my cookies prepared, I was thrilled to find all of these cute Christmas boxes and wrapping for baked goods at our local Hobby Lobby. I boxed them and then they were ready to ship!
I just had to hope they stayed in tact; however, I filled the boxes with lots of stuffing so hopefully they did!
Ingredients:
- 1/3 Cup Finely Crushed Peppermint Candy Canes
- 1/3 Cup Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Shortening
- 1/2 Cup Butter, Softened
- 1 Cup Sifted Powdered Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tsp Imitation Almond Extract
- 2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1/2 Tsp Red Food Coloring
Directions:
Start by combining the crushed peppermint and sugar and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl cream together the shortening and the butter then add in the sugar continue beating. Next add the egg and the flavorings then mix in the flour and salt. Continue mixing until well combined.
At this point divide the dough in half and tint one half with the red food coloring.
Let the dough chill for at least an hour in the fridge.
Once the dough is chilled, go ahead and preheat the oven to 375*.
Roll out red dough about 1/4 inch thick then roll out the rest of the dough until 1/4 inch thick. Lay them on top of each other and roll up like a long roll. If you need a visual at this point, think of the packaged cookie dough at the stores in a long roll, that's the concept here. Take teaspoonfuls and drop on greased cookie sheets or use parchment paper.
These will bake for about 9 minutes. Once they come out of the oven immediately sprinkle with the crushed candy mixture and move to wire racks to fully cool.
Note: You can use real almond extract, I am allergic to tree nuts so I have to use imitation almond extract.
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Thank you so much for sending these to me and my family for the swap! Happy Holidays to you all no matter what you celebrate!
Thank you!! Happy Holidays to you as well!