Peppermint Cookies

For our recent Children's Fine Arts event, Preston wanted to bake. After looking through several of our cookbooks, he settled on Candy Cane Twists from Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Desserts cookbook. You can read about my interview with Sandra Lee here.

So, the night before the event, we gathered the supplies and Preston got busy pouring, stirring, and rolling. He was very thorough and followed instructions very well.

Once the cookie dough is at room temperature, you have to separate it into two balls. Add red food coloring to one ball and peppermint extract to the other ball. The recipe originally calls for making the dough into sticks so you can twist them to look like candy canes. We decided to do an easier, less time-consuming route and just made a bunch of balls.

Then. we rolled a red ball and a white ball together and the dough had a really neat, marble effect.

This is what the cookies looked like after they're baked. They received a superior rating and Preston was soooo proud of himself! They are soft, moist, and very delicious. If a 5 yr old can make these cookies with very little help, it should be super easy for anybody to do.

Peppermint Cookies
1 pkg. (18 oz) refrigerated sugar cookie dough, room temperature

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

Red food coloring

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut roll of cookie dough in half. Place halves in separate mixing bowls. In one bowl, mix 1/4 cup of flour and peppermint extract into cookie dough. In the second bowl, mix remaining 1/4 cup of flour and enough food coloring to make dough red. Mix well. (Warning: if mixing with hands, which is sometimes easier to do, your hands will smell minty and look red. It will remind your family of Christmastime.)

Divide white and red dough into balls. You can make them as big or as small as desired. Then, roll a red and a white ball together, making sure they don't separate. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes.

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