Soft Frosted Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
These Soft Frosted Candy Cane Sugar Cookies are thick, soft, and flavored with peppermint plus crushed candy cane pieces for the perfect holiday twist. Topped with a festive red-and-white swirled frosting and more candy cane crunch, they’re the ultimate Christmas cookie. Easy to make, beautifully decorated, and guaranteed to disappear fast!
Servings: 16 cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup salted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp peppermint extract
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ cup roughly chopped candy canes
For the frosting:
- ½ cup salted butter room temperature
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ - ¾ tsp peppermint extract start with let you can always add more
- 4 tbsp heavy cream room temperature
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- red food coloring
- additional crushed candy canes for topping
Instructions
For the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, peppermint extract, and eggs. Mix on low until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated, don’t over mix. Fold in the chopped candy cane pieces.
- Scoop 16 large (about 3 tbsp) dough balls onto the baking sheet, spacing them 2–3 inches apart. Use the bottom of a flat glass to gently press each dough ball to ¼–½ inch thickness. I dip the bottom in powdered sugar before pressing so it doesn't stick to the dough.
- Bake for 10–11 minutes, or until the edges are just set. As soon as they come out of the oven take a round cookie cutter or bowl, place it over top and gently scoot the cookie around to reshape into a perfect circle. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the frosting:
- Beat butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, peppermint extract, and salt on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add cream 1 tablespoon at a time until your desired consistency is reached.
- For this design you will need 3 piping bags. Divide the frosting into two bowls and tint one bowl red. Transfer red frosting to one piping bag and white frosting to another. Snip the ends and place both bags inside a third bag fitted with a large round piping tip.
- Starting in the center pipe a generous swirl of red-and-white frosting onto each cooled cookie. Immediately top with crushed candy cane & enjoy!