Great Grammie Judy's Candy Cane Cookies Recipe
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 2 cups white sugar. 1 ½ cups butter, slightly softened but not warm - the cookies rise better with cooler butter. 4 large eggs - room temperature, well beaten. 1 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla paste. 5 cups AP flour. 2 tsp. baking powder. 1 tsp. salt. Red food coloring (enough to get a good color, 10 - 20 drops). Sparkling or granulated white sugar to sprinkle on the top (optional).
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Directions: |
Directions:Heat oven to 400º Prepare 1/2 sheet pans by lining with parchment paper. Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer (hand-held or stand mixer) until the mixture is light and fluffy, at least five minutes. This incorporates air into the mixture which cause the dough to rise as it bakes so your cookies will be light in texture. Cool (not cold) butter works best; butter that's too warm won't let you create the structure you need. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dry with the wet ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl until combined. Do not overmix or you will start developing gluten and get tough cookies. Turn out dough and divide in half. Put half back in the mixer. Make a ball out of the other half, wrap it in plastic wrap (Saran Wrap) and put it in the fridge.
Add food coloring to the dough in the mixer and combine until you get the color you want. Turn out the red dough, make a ball out of it, wrap it in plastic wrap (Saran Wrap) and put it in the fridge. Chill dough for at least 1 hour (or overnight - again a make in advance recipe). Take dough out and let warm for 15 minutes if it has been sitting overnight in the fridge so that it handles easily. Roll out the red and white doughs (the kids used to call these "snakes") into 1/2" thick ropes - OK - snakes.
Cut the snakes into 3" lengths, twist a red and white one together, shape like a candy cane and place on the parchment paper. Sprinkle with sugar if desired. If you stick these in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking they hold their shape better. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes (maybe 12 minutes for cold ones) until they just start to get golden brown around the edges.
Cool and enjoy! |
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Number Of
Servings:30? - A lot :) |
Preparation
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Preparation
Time:45 Minutes to 1 hour plus cooling time |
Personal
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Personal
Notes: You can also use this recipe for cut out Christmas (or any Holiday) cookies, just add another 2 tbs. of flour. Flour your table, roll out the dough to 1/2" thick, cut with cookie cutters, chill in the freezer and bake the same way. Cool and frost.
Uncle Mark Diamond LOVED Christmas cookies. He was famous for coming up to me, pointing out the window and yelling "Look Mom, a flamingo!" As I searched in vain out the window for a Christmas flamingo, Uncle Mark made off with a cookie. He also would point to a broken cookie and remind me that I would not want to serve those to company, so I should give it to him. How did so many cookies get broken?
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