Jesse's Favorite Cookies — Food Between Friends

Originally appeared in Bake From Scratch

These Candy Cane Cookies were my favorite cookies growing up, and still are today. Every time we make the candy cane cookies now, my mom always reminds me of this one Christmas when she had made around six dozen of them for a big cookie exchange. I was around four or five years old. These cookies can be time consuming to make. You have to roll the dough out—and it’s a delicate dough—then you have to twist and shape each of the candy cane cookies individually. My mom finished all the cookies the night before the exchange, and laid them out on the counter. I really wanted some of the cookies, and I knew I wasn’t going to get any because they were for the exchange. I snuck into the kitchen that night, and snapped the ends off of each of the candy canes. I thought maybe she wouldn’t notice if they were a little shorter. So I ate about 40 cookies, and she could obviously tell immediately by looking at the cookies. They ended up looking more like horseshoes than candy canes. She was so mad, but I still think it was worth it. – Jesse
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INGREDIENTS

For the Cookies:
1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups (315 grams) granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
5 cups (700 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher salt
1 teaspoon (6 grams) baking soda
1 teaspoon (4 grams) baking powder

For the Icing:
3 tablespoons (45 grams) unsalted butter
1½ cups (216 grams) confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 to 3 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS

For cookies:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the egg yolks, vanilla, and sour cream, and beat until fluffy.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the cream mixture, and beat until just combined. Do not overmix. Wrap in wax paper, and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using your favorite holiday cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Bake cookies until the bottoms are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to apply icing.

For icing:
Melt butter, then whisk in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Whisk in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Ice cookies, and then lay flat in the fridge until set.