My little guy loves candy canes. In fact, they may have been his favorite part of the holiday season…except, of course, for the presents. There were only a few days in the month of December that his face wasn’t covered in a red, sticky mess. I also just recently discovered a perfect, red faceprint on my living room curtains. Oh, the joys of having little ones! Yes, the candy canes were a complete mess, but how could you resist his adorable little face adorned with a candy mustache?
Now I am left with a box of candy canes, and a child that is on a complete sugar meltdown. What to do with these left over sweets? Recycle them into another sweet!
Below you’ll find my great-grandmother’s recipe for butter cookies, with a few little tweaks and twists of my own. I’m certain she didn’t dip them in chocolate and decorate them with crushed candy canes. They are yummy, they are perfect to give to your favorite Valentine, and they are a great way to use up your left over candy canes…as if anyone needs an excuse to bake cookies!
Enjoy!
Nikki, In Stitches
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 12 ounce bag of milk chocolate chips
4 teaspoons canola oil
12 candy canes, finely crushed
Directions:
Cream butter and sugar. Add beaten egg and vanilla. Sift flour, salt and baking powder and add to creamed mixture. Knead all ingredients thoroughly. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Cut out hearts with a cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to a greased baking sheet. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 25 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack and allow them to cool completely before dipping in chocolate.
Melt chocolate. Stir in the oil. Dip cookies into chocolate mixture. Lay back on cooling racks. While chocolate is still warm, sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
Yields approximately 42 cookies.
i am going to make these soon! we have candy canes left over every christmas.. they look delicious!
Thanks for sending the suggestion to craft gossip! Too cute. I’ll post tonight on the edible crafts column (ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com)
I think that I might try to make these. They look so good. But I don’t have any candycanes…can I just use crushed peppermint candies??
Yes! They would be perfect! You can use anything red and white. Some people may not be crazy about the peppermint flavor, so even red and white jimmies (sprinkles for those of you not in the northeast) will work. You can find those in some food stores this time of year. If not there, you can definitely get them at a kitchen supply store. (I actually have some left over from Christmas.) If you’re not a fan of them, try just walking down the candy aisle next time you’re food shopping…there are endless possibilities. Get creative!
These look so yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂
YUM!
I’ll bet Joey would love to help make a batch of these!
These are definitely Valentine worthy! Just happened on your blog and will be attempting the hooded scarf you have pictured. Love what youre doing with your website. Thanks for sharing!
I bought a bunch of candy canes with the intention of making peppermint bark, but…. Ummm… Yeah, it didn’t happen. I may just need to make some cookies now!
Wendy,
Did you try the cookies?
They are so good!
They are really my go-to cookie. I have cookie cutters in every shape, and I make them for every occasion…with or without chocolate. (But with chocolate is my favorite!)
Let me know if you like them!
Nikki
How yummy! I’m sure they will have him feeling better in no time! xo
Thanks, Carla! They always seem to do the trick!