How to make Candy Cane Cookies

These festive holiday cookies are a tradition at our house. Although they are not particularly delicious, they are really cute and fun to make!

You can find the official recipe from Betty Crocker, although I use almond extract instead of peppermint.

Here's how it's done - you mix up the dough, then divide it into two sections. Set aside one half and tint the other half with red food coloring, like this:
You will then have two lovely lumps of dough, one white, one red.
If you've ever done ceramics, you'll like this part. Form coils from the dough by rolling it gently back and forth on a lightly floured board. I always like to tell kids about this when I teach ceramics classes: "Remember this method at Christmas time, you can do it with red and white cookie dough and make Candy Cane Cookies!"
The recipe says to make the coils or "ropes" about 4" long. I started out this way but ended up making them longer and longer for bigger cookies.
Press two pieces together and get twistin'.
You have to be careful with this step as the dough can fall apart easily.
You can then roll the twisted dough lightly to smooth it out.
Curve one end down to make a candy cane!
Place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 9-12 minutes or until the white part becomes a very light golden brown.
Be ready with your crushed peppermint candy! I unwrapped some real candy canes, stuck them in a bag, and whacked it repeatedly with a hammer. There is probably a better way to do this, but I don't know what it is.

Mix your crushed candy with an equal amount of granulated sugar and sprinkle this on the hot cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. It will stick to the cookies and give you some added textural interest and peppermint flavor.

Enjoy!
I made these for the SCRAP Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale, which happened on Saturday, and here are a few pictures from that event. Here is Lee from leethal:
Here is Liz from 1.by.Liz:
My table looked cute:
And here I am, black Santa hat and all:

Food is Love - a cooking feature - with Deconstructed Early Fall Soup

I'm starting a new weekly feature here on my blog - it's a cooking feature with recipes and photos of yummy things that my husband Charles, the chef, makes at home. Yay!

This feature is to be called "Food is Love." It comes from a slogan that was once painted on the windows of our favorite little Italian restaurant in Great Falls, Montana, where Chuck and I lived for a while once upon a time. We have always loved that saying so here it is, Food is Love.

Today's recipe is inspired by a trip to the Lents Farmers Market, which happens on Sundays at SE 92nd and Foster (right behind Trillium Artisans) in Portland. We've been enjoying going there and filling our reusable grocery bag with fresh, organic, local produce (and always a delicious Honey Cake from Ararat Bakery).

We are making: Deconstructed Early Fall Soup

Chuck tells me that deconstructed foods are all the rage now. In this case, the vegetables are boiled in stock and then removed and served separately from the broth. The tender potatoes and carrots are wonderful this way, and the cup of rich broth is hot and hearty on a cool fall day. This recipe is just an incredibly simple way to bring out the best in those fresh farmers market veggies and roots.

Here are the ingredients (we are feeding a family of four):

• 6 medium size organic potatoes (we used a mixture of white and red)
• One whole medium red onion, chopped
  
• One bunch of baby carrots
• 1.5 quarts of beef stock (you can use beef base and follow the instructions, or make your own from 1.5 quarts of water, 2 T. salt, stew bones, and mir poix - a mixture of diced celery, carrots, and onions which is simmered for four hours and then strained)
• 1/2 t. white pepper
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. anise
• 1 pinch of red pepper flake
• 1/2 t. ground ginger of 1 T. finely minced fresh ginger
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh Thai basil
  

What to do:

• Simmer the carrots, potatoes, and onion in the beef stock over medium heat for 30 minutes until tender.

• Remove vegetables from stock and set aside. Return stock to heat and add your spices. Do not boil.

• Serve the broth hot with fresh chopped cilantro and Thai basil, and a squeeze of lemon or lime, with the vegetables on the side. The potatoes are great smashed up with some butter, salt and pepper. Garnish with cherry and pear tomatoes if you like.

Chuck also made some broiled lemon pepper chicken fingers to go with the deconstructed soup. Delicious!



The leftover broth can be used for a hot drink when you have a cold, as a base for gravy, or to make any kind of beef soup such as an Asian-style beef noodle soup.

Check back next Monday for our next cooking adventure, and remember - Food is Love!