Twelve Days of Holiday Treats: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

Welcome to Day 6 of

The Twelve Days of Holiday Treats!

Once again, this year, from December 1-12th I’ll post a new holiday treat recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining!

The recipes I’m sharing are small batch (perfect for this year of smaller gatherings – each recipe makes 1-dozen or a few more smaller-sized treats) that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment  so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim.

Today’s treat is a simple sugar cookie – fancied up with some crushed candy cane and a quick “royal” icing and, of course, SPRINKLES! This is a great recipe to make a small batch of cookies and the best thing is that they don’t require any rest time in the fridge – you can make the dough, roll and cut it and just chill the cookies quickly in the freezer while your oven comes to temperature!

Yield: 12-20

Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

Print

Simple sugar cookies with crushed candy cane baked through, topped with a simple "royal" icing.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 16 minutes 13 seconds

Decorating Time 20 minutes

Total Time 56 minutes 13 seconds

Ingredients

For the cookies:

• 113g (1/2 cup/ 8 tablespoons) salted butter, softened
• 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 225g (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons crushed candy cane
• 2 tablespoons milk

For the fondant icing:

• 113g (3/4 cup) icing sugar
• 1 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon meringue powder
• sprinkles (optional but not really)

Instructions

Make the cookies

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets.
2. Mix the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with electric hand beaters at high speed until pale in colour and creamy.
3. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the egg yolk and vanilla, then continue to beat until combined.
4. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour and baking powder, mixing until the flour is just combined.
5. With the speed still low, add the milk and beat until the dough starts to clump together.
6. Mix in the crushed candy cane until it's just combined.
7. Gather the dough together with your hands into a disk. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface or in between two large sheets of parchment paper and roll the dough until it’s roughly 1/3-inch thick.
8. Use a 2-inch cookie cutter to cut approximately 20 cookies or a 2 1/2-inch cutter to cut approximately 12 cookies.
9. Place the cutout cookies on the prepared baking tray and put it in the freezer while you heat the oven.
10. Pre-heat the oven to 350˚F.
11. When oven is at temperature, bake the cookies for 13- 16 minutes until lightly golden all over.
12. Remove from the oven and use an offset spatula to remove the cookies from the trays and place them on wire cooling racks.
13. Leave the cookies until they are completely cool.

Make the fondant icing

1. Mix the icing sugar and the milk together. It might not look like it's going to be enough liquid but don't be tempted to add more.
2. When you think you can't mix any more, mix the meringue powder and water in a small cup until combined.
3. Add the meringue powder mix to the icing sugar and continue to mix until the icing is thick and glossy.

Ice and decorate the cookies

1. Use a small offset spatula to spread a thin layer of the fondant icing over the entire surface of the cookies.
2. Sprinkle with, well, sprinkles and allow to set at room temperature.

Notes

Cookies will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for a few days. Make sure to layer parchment paper in between the cookie layers so they don't stick together.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains links to the Sweetapolita sprinkle shop where I am NOT an affiliate but I can't NOT recommend them - they are simply the best!

• 
  Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker's Half Sheet (2 Pack), Silver
• 
  Reynolds Kitchens Parchment Paper Roll with SmartGrid - 3 Boxes
• 
  Cuisinart 5-speed hand mixer
• 
  Sweetapolita Crushed Candy Cane
• 
  Two Side Round Cookie Cutters, Set of 6
• 
  Ateco Offset Spatula
• 
  Wilton Meringue Powder Egg White Substitute, 8 oz.
• 
  Sweetapolita Sprinkles + Stuff

did you make this recipe?

please leave a comment or review on the blog or share a photo and tag me on Instagram @eatlivtravwrite !

I love how easy these are – they are perfect for making with kids who tend to have a shorter attention span in the kitchen. They’re not “instant gratification” cookies but they definitely are faster to make than a lot of recipes. And no less delicious.

I guess the only question is…

What sprinkles will you use to top these? 😉

Stay tuned to see what tomorrow brings and in the meantime…

Check out the rest of the 12 Days of Holiday Treats:

Day 1: Rice Krispie Wreaths

Day 2: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars

Day 3: Peppermint Bark

Day 4: Orangettes

Day 5: Rocky Road Chocolate Crackle Slice

Day 6: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

Day 8: Mendiants

Day 9: Chewy Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies

Day 10: Apricot, Coconut and Cranberry “truffles”

Day 11: Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies

Day 12: Peppermint Hot Chocolate

OR

Check out last year’s 12 Days of Holiday Cookies:

Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread

Day 2: Jam Drops

Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice

Day 4: Melting Moments

Day 5: White Christmas

Day 6: Langues de Chat

Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice

Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits

Day 9: Rocky Road

Day 10: Honey Joys

Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles

Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)

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Please note: This post contains affiliate links. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This means that if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you in advance!

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