We hope ya’ll are enjoying the Holiday Cookie Exchange! We know we are. Today we are over the moon to have Rachel from A Southern Fairytale join us. Not only can she whip up something delicious, but she is a southern belle with the kindest of hearts. The recipe she is sharing, has us convinced that our children will love us more if we make these cookies a part of our traditions. Please join us and don’t forget to link up your favorite recipe HERE. ~ Chris Ann & Kristin
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Do you remember your first Holiday Cookies?
Were they traditional sugar cookies slathered in icing (mine were)
or perhaps they were something a bit more festive and exotic
There’s something about Christmas time that just makes me want to blast Christmas music through the speakers and spice my house with the scents of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and citrus and light a fire in the fireplace even though it’s 85 outside. It makes me want to dive into my kitchen to bake cookies and other delicious treats for everyone I’ve ever met.
No matter how much I try to convince my kids that our Christmas Cookie baking should consist of such traditional treats as sugar cookies and peanut brittle, I lost that battle the day that I introduced them to the glistening sugar crystal encrusted, sweet dough, candy cane flavor topped deliciousness that is the Candy Cane Kiss Cookie.
For the past 3 years these cookies have been the centerpiece of our Christmas sweets table and gifts.
Every time I mention Christmas baking – they run to the pantry and get out my colored sugars and search for the tell tale red and white bag containing the melt in your mouth candy cane kisses.
It’s no longer just my kids who beg for these.
When I pull out the butter, sugar, eggs and KitchenAid – my husband’s brown eyes twinkle and he asks if I’m making the *Christmas Cookies*.
My mom calls to ask if I’m making them when I come to visit and if I’ll make enough for her to gift to her friends, too.
These have quickly become one of our family’s favorite Christmas Cookies because of the heavenly buttery dough, the beautiful sparkling sugar crystals and the way that the candy cane flavor melts into the cookie from the heat of the fresh out of the oven cookies.
Half of the fun of these cookies is giving my kids small bits of buttery dough to roll into balls and then letting them coat the dough and their hands in the delicious sugar crystals; the other half is the light of surprise and joy in people’s eyes when they take their first bite of these crunchy, buttery, sugary, cookies with their hint of candy cane flavor and soft candy topping.
If you want to have some fun with your kids in the kitchen this Christmas and give your friends and family a cookie that just simply tastes like Christmas, I urge y’all to give this recipe a try.
Candy Cane Christmas Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 bag of Candy Cane Kiss Candies – unwrapped
- 1 stick – 1/2 C butter – softened (should yield slightly to pressure, but not be room temperature soft)
- 1 C granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla bean paste
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 2 C all purpose flour (sifted or spooned into measuring cups – not packed)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 2 TBSP milk
- Red and Green Sugar Crystals
How To:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F
- Unwrap the kisses and try not to eat them all – this is a great project for the kids
- Cream together butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract
- Sift flour and measure out 2 C
- Sift together flour, baking soda and salt
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk to the creamed butter mixture – blend well.
- Roll dough into 1- inch balls
- Roll some of the balls in the red sugar and some in the green sugar (this is a really fun job for the kids)
- Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet (or greased cookie sheet) and bake roughly 7 – 9 minutes. They will not look done, but do NOT overbake!
- Lightly place a candy cane kiss onto the center of each cookie.
- Take the cookies off the cookie sheet and transfer to a wire baking rack until cool.
- This makes between 38 to 48 cookies
I hope y’all enjoy this recipe!
Thank you so much to the lovely ladies and gracious hostesses of Love, Feast, Table for allowing me to be a part of this delicious Holiday Cookie Exchange!
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Thank you to Rachel from A Southern Fairytale for sharing your Candy Cane Christmas Butter Cookie recipe at our table! ~Chris Ann & Kristin
About Rachael:
I’m a deep-fried Southern belle, married to a denim wearin’, Harley ridin’ Texan Prince Charming. I am the always proud and frequently exhausted mom to two 8th generation Texans.
My childhood was spent at my Granny’s side learning to cook with cast iron, butter and that special southern ingredient — love.
Today, I share my passion for food, family and photography with thousands of monthly readers on my blog, A Southern Fairytale.
My recipes can be found on sites like BlogHer, Blissfully Domestic, Divine Caroline, and Where Women Cook, and in print in the Think Food and the 50 Recipes, 50 Bloggers for Red Cross cookbook. The rest me can be found serving as President of PTA, coaching my daughter’s kickball team, capturing life through my 24-70 mm lens and saving ceiling fans from my son.
