Bready or Not: Peppermint Sugar Cookies

'Tis the season for sales! Now is the time to dash down to your nearest grocery store and stockpile candy for the new year. Go pick up candy cane boxes for 15-cents!

And if you're like me, you don't just want to EAT the candy. No, you want to throw it into cookies.



The basis of this is one of my favorite sugar cookie recipes. It creates sugar cookies that are durable, but with a sandy texture so that when you bite in, they just kinda melt in your mouth. Since candy cane bits also melt in your mouth, the elements work pretty well together, I think.

Peppermint Sugar Cookies
modified from Melt-Your-Mouth Sugar Cookies in the Better Home and Gardens New Cook Book

10-12 candy canes, coarsely chopped or crushed
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1) Place unwrapped candy canes in a gallon-size freezer. Using a rolling pin or other weaponized device, crush the candy canes into small chunks. Set aside. Preheat oven at 300-degrees.

2) In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and shortening until smooth. Add sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla until everything is combined. Add the flour. Once your dough is mixed, add in candy cane pieces.

3) Using a tablespoon or scoop, form 1-inch balls. Space them apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until sides or set, but don't let the edges brown. Cool on cookie sheet for five to ten minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.



OM NOM NOM.