Candy Cane Cookies

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These Candy Cane Cookies are adapted from my Lemon Crinkle Cookie recipe. They are absolutely divine and we can thank my ex’s mom for that!

Candy Cane Cookies come from my 16-year-old ex-boyfriend’s (who I dumped twice) mom. I learned that his mom had adapted my award-winning Lemon Crinkle Cookies into a holiday version. I did a little tweaking myself and voila, holiday heaven in a cookie. Simple, sweet, soft and most of all, the perfect amount of peppermint flavor.

Candy Cane Cookie Recipe

This Candy Cane Cookie Recipe uses everyday ingredients to make soft, chewy and delicious cookies. Perfect for the Christmas season because this recipe uses candy canes! YUM! Start by gathering these ingredients:

• Sugar – no brown sugar in this recipe, we are keeping it simple and light with plain ol’ granulated sugar.
• Butter – for taste and structure.
• Egg – for structure.
• Vanilla – for taste. Some of my readers have gotten away with not adding vanilla, but I think it makes a major difference.
• All-Purpose Flour – this fills out the cookie.
• Baking Soda – helps create a super soft and chewy texture.
• Baking Powder – this does most of the leavening (rising) for the cookies.
• Salt – to balance the sweet and minty.
• Powdered Sugar – this is used to roll the cookie dough balls in. SO GOOD.
• Candy Canes – just use regular candy canes here, about 1/4 cup crushed.

How to Make Candy Cane Cookies

1. Now that you have your ingredients, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray, line with parchment paper or use silicone baking mat and set aside.
2. Next step, crush your candy canes. Throw them into a plastic Ziploc bag and bang them up with a rolling pin. I didn’t even unwrap the candy canes either. Once they’re crushed, you can pick out the plastic wrappers. I had a few bigger chunks of candy cane, but for the most part, these were pretty small.

3. Ok, now let’s get started with the cookie dough. Cream some butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This is a super important step for soft cookies.

4. Whip in vanilla and an egg. Scrape sides and mix again. My KitchenAid does an amazazazing job at this.

5. Measure out your baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir it into your flour.
6. Excluding the powdered sugar, dump all your dry ingredients into the bowl and stir it around until it’s just incorporated. Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again briefly.

7. The last thing to do is add in your crushed candy canes. I don’t know about you but I could eat this whole bowl of dough. Come to momma.

Once I dismounted the bowl from the mixer, a little girl showed up in my kitchen with her “green” {OXO spatula} and requested a taste test. She was so cute that I agreed and then kept her for free child labor.

8. To form these sweet lil things, start by pouring powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar.
9. Place on a baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. It’s not rocket science, people! Super simple stuff.

A great job for little hands.

P.S.–> Expect a mess.

10. Once you have a tray full, pop those babies into a 350-degree oven and let ’em bake 9-11 minutes. NOT TOO LONG! The key to this is their chewiness. You want the outside of the cookie to look matte {not shiny} when you pull them out. Mine were done in 8 minutes on the nose.

11. See? Not shiny and barely golden {if that} around the edges. Cool them off and serve them up!

Candy Cane Cookies Tips and Tricks

Baking Time. If using a nonstick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Peppermint. Want even more minty flavor? Try adding peppermint extract to the dough.

Spreading. If your cookies are spreading too much, it’s because there is too much butter. Try adding in small amounts of more flour until you get that signature cookie dough texture.

More Christmas Cookies to Bake!

• Triple Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
• Chewy Chocolate Fudge Cookies with Peppermint Glaze
• Chocolate Mint Cookies
• Jumbo Double Chocolate Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

I LOVED these Candy Cane Cookies and hope they make it to your mouth soon. 🙂 Printable recipe card below!

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4.98 from 37 votes

Candy Cane Cookies

These Candy Cane Cookies are adapted from my Lemon Crinkle Cookie recipe. They are absolutely divine and we can thank my ex's mom for that!

servings 24 cookies

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 11 mins

Total Time 24 mins

Ingredients

• ▢ 3 candy canes crushed (1/4 cup)
• ▢ ½ cups butter softened
• ▢ 1 cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ ¼ teaspoons salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoons baking soda
• ▢ 1-½ cup all purpose flour
• ▢ ½ cups powdered sugar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray, line with parchment paper or use silicone baking mat and set aside.
• Place candy canes into a plastic food storage bag and crush using a rolling pin. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla and egg. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir all dry ingredients together in a small bowl and then in pour into the mixer and slowly mix until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again briefly. Stir in crushed candy canes.
• Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on the baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begins to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Notes

If using a nonstick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 66mg | Potassium: 15mg | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 130IU | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.4mg

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Candy Cane, candy cane cookie recipe, Candy Cane Cookies