Fun Candy Cane Cookies

These candy cane cookies are soft, buttery, and full of peppermint flavor. They look impressive on a cookie tray but are surprisingly easy to make at home.

These candy cane cookies look like something you’d buy at a bakery, but they’re way easier than they look.

You just make a simple sugar cookie dough, split it in half, and color one part red.

Then you roll out little ropes and twist them together to look like candy canes.

The dough is soft and buttery with a hint of peppermint that makes the whole house smell like Christmas.

The girls love helping with the twisting part, even if the shapes end up a little crooked.

I actually like them better that way because they look homemade and real.

If you’ve ever made sugar cookies before, this will feel familiar but way more fun.

And if you need more ideas, make sure to check out my homemade sugar cookies, cute Santa Cookies or my Nutella stuffed choco-chip cookies.

Ingredients for Fun Candy Cane Cookies

These cookies are seriously the cutest things to bake around Christmas.

The peppermint and vanilla combo is just perfect, and they look so pretty on a plate (even when a few look, you know, not quite candy cane–shaped).

Ingredients

• Butter – keeps the cookies soft and rich, so don’t skip it.
• Powdered sugar – makes them melt-in-your-mouth sweet instead of grainy.
• Egg – helps everything stick together.
• Vanilla extract – gives that cozy, classic cookie flavor.
• Peppermint extract – the reason your kitchen smells like Christmas.
• All-purpose flour – the base that holds everything up.
• Salt – just a pinch to balance all that sweetness.
• Red food coloring – for the fun candy cane stripes the kids love.
• Coarse decorating sugar – or sprinkles for a sweet garnish

How to Make Fun Candy Cane Cookies

1. Mix the Dough

Beat the butter and powdered sugar together until it’s light and fluffy.

Add the egg, vanilla, and peppermint and keep mixing until it’s all smooth and creamy.

2. Add the Dry Stuff

Dump in the flour and salt and mix until the dough forms.

It should be soft but not sticky.

Kind of like playdough that’s been sitting out a few minutes.

3. Color and Roll

Split the dough in half and color one half red. Roll each color into little ropes, then twist them together to look like candy canes.

If the dough cracks while you twist, warm it in your hands a bit first.

4. Bake Them Up

Lay the candy canes on a parchment-lined pan and decorate with coarse sugar for a sweet garnish bake at 375°F for 8 to 10 minutes.

Pull them out just when the edges start to look set but not brown.

5. Cool and Enjoy

Let the cookies cool right on the pan before you move them, or they’ll break apart.

Once they’re set, you can stack them up or pack them into a tin.

They look extra cute tied in a bag with a little ribbon for gifts.

Sweet Twists for the Season

These candy cane cookies are such a fun little project when you’ve got the oven going and the kids hanging around the kitchen.

They’re not hard to make, just a bit messy, but honestly that’s part of the fun.

You get buttery, pepperminty cookies that look adorable even when they’re not perfect.

They’re the kind of cookie that makes your kitchen smell amazing and your house feel like Christmas.