Candy Cane Cookies (A Fun Christmas Recipe!)

Are you ready to bake up a batch of the most festive, fun, and completely adorable cookies for your next Christmas party or holiday cookie exchange? A treat so cute, so classic, and so packed with the nostalgic flavor of peppermint, it will become an instant family tradition? These incredible, super-easy Candy Cane Cookies are that perfect recipe! We’re talking a soft, chewy, and buttery sugar cookie, cleverly colored and flavored, and twisted into the iconic shape of a Christmas candy cane.

This isn’t just another cookie recipe; it’s a guide to your new favorite holiday edible craft. We’ll show you the simple but brilliant secrets to a flawless, “doctored” cookie mix dough that is perfect for shaping, and the easy, fun technique for creating these beautiful, striped treats. This is a guaranteed, crowd-pleasing hit that is as fun to make with your little elves as it is to eat!

Recipe Overview: The Ultimate Cute & Festive Holiday Treat

What makes these Candy Cane Cookies so spectacularly fun is their brilliant, easy-to-achieve design and their classic, crowd-pleasing flavor. This recipe is a masterpiece of festive creativity. The cookie itself is a super-soft and chewy, “doctored” sugar cookie, made extra easy with a store-bought mix. The dough is then divided in two: one half is tinted a festive red, and the other is infused with a cool, refreshing peppermint flavor. The real magic happens when the two doughs are rolled into ropes, twisted together to create the classic candy cane stripes, and then bent into the iconic, hooked shape.

Metric	Time / Level
Total Time	50 minutes
Active Prep Time	25 minutes
Difficulty Level	Easy
Servings	2-3 dozen cookies

Santa’s Bakeshop: The Essential Ingredients

This iconic party treat uses a handful of high-quality pantry staples and one brilliant shortcut to create its signature festive look and delicious flavor.

• The Shortcut Superstar (The Sugar Cookie Mix!):
  • This is the brilliant secret that makes this impressive recipe so achievable on a busy holiday schedule! Using a box of your favorite brand of sugar cookie mix provides a foolproof, delicious, and consistent base with minimal measuring and mixing required.
• The Softness Secret (Cream Cheese!):
  • This is a fantastic baker’s hack! Adding a little bit of softened, full-fat cream cheese to the dough is the key that makes these cookies unbelievably soft, tender, and slightly tangy. It’s the secret that prevents them from being dry or brittle and gives them a wonderful, chewy texture.
• The Classic Christmas Flavors:
  • Peppermint Extract: For that classic, cool, and nostalgic candy cane flavor, a good quality peppermint extract is a must-have.
  • Red Food Coloring: To achieve that beautiful, vibrant, and festive red stripe, a gel food coloring is highly recommended. It is much more concentrated than a liquid food coloring, so you will get a deep red color without adding too much extra liquid to your dough.

The Baker’s Masterclass: The Secret to the Perfect Candy Cane Twist

This is the most fun part of the recipe, and it’s surprisingly easy if you follow these simple, crucial rules.

1. The Perfect Dough Consistency: The addition of a little extra flour to the doctored cookie mix is a crucial step. It creates a dough that is the perfect, “play-doh” like consistency—firm enough to roll into ropes without being too sticky, but still soft enough to not crack.
2. The Chilling Trick: The number one, non-negotiable secret to a cut-out or shaped cookie that holds its beautiful, sharp shape in the oven is to chill the dough. After you have twisted your ropes and formed your candy canes on the baking sheet, pop the entire sheet into the refrigerator for at least 15-20 minutes before you bake them. This is the key that will solidify the butter and the cream cheese, which will prevent your beautiful candy canes from spreading into sad, puffy blobs in the hot oven.
3. The Gentle Twist: When you are twisting your red and white ropes together, be gentle but firm. You want to create a beautiful, distinct stripe pattern without overworking the dough, which can cause the colors to become muddy.

Step-by-Step to the Best Candy Cane Cookies

This fun and festive project is a joy to prepare.

Part 1: The Art of the Doctored Cookie Dough

Step 1: First, preheat your oven to 325°F (163°C).

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine your 1 box of sugar cookie mix, the 1/2 stick of melted butter, the 1 egg, the 1/3 cup of softened cream cheese, and the 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour. Use an electric mixer or your hands to mix everything together until a smooth dough forms.

Step 3: Separate the dough into two equal portions and place them in two different bowls.

Step 4: To one bowl, gradually add your red food coloring, kneading the dough until you have created your desired, vibrant shade of red. To the second bowl of uncolored dough, add your 1 1/2 teaspoons of peppermint extract and knead it together.

Part 2: The Fun Candy Cane Twist

Step 1: On a lightly floured work surface, take a small, tablespoon-sized portion of your red dough and roll it into a 1/4-inch-wide rope that is about 6 inches long. Do the same with a portion of your white dough.

Step 2 (The Fun Part!): Place the two ropes side-by-side and carefully twist them together to create the classic, striped candy cane pattern.

Step 3: Gently curve the top of your twisted rope over to create the iconic candy cane “hook.”

Step 4: Place your finished candy cane on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat this process with all your remaining dough.

Step 5 (The Most Important Step!): Place your baking sheets of unbaked cookies into the refrigerator to chill for at least 15 minutes.

Part 3: Bake to Perfection

Bake your chilled candy cane cookies for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to turn a light golden brown.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Storage and Make-Ahead Tips

These Candy Cane Cookies are the ultimate make-ahead holiday treat!

• Make-Ahead: The unbaked cookie dough can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored, well-wrapped in the refrigerator. The unbaked, shaped candy cane cookies can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
• Storage: Store the finished, baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.¹

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)