ADORABLE Decorated Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
The ultimate festive cookie recipe featuring soft buttery sugar cookies decorated with a red and white swirled wet-on-wet royal icing technique. These ADORABLE candy cane cookies look professionally made yet are simple enough for any home baker.
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories: 140kcal
Equipment
- electric mixer for creaming dough and beating royal icing
- mixing bowls for dough and icing
- Rolling Pin to roll out dough evenly
- Candy cane cookie cutter for shaping cookies
- Piping bags with #2 tips for decorating
- Toothpick or trussing needle for swirling icing
- wire cooling rack for cooling cookies evenly
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 tablespoons meringue powder
- 5 tablespoons water, plus more as needed
- red gel food coloring, for icing
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and almond extracts. Gradually add dry ingredients until a soft dough forms.
- Divide the dough into disks, wrap tightly, and chill for 1–2 hours or until firm. This is mandatory for holding the candy cane shape.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Roll the chilled dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut using a candy cane cookie cutter. Bake for 10–12 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- In a large bowl, beat together powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water until smooth and glossy (1–2 minutes). Divide evenly into two bowls. Leave one white; color the other red with gel food coloring. Thin each with water drop by drop until medium consistency (like runny honey).
- Fit two piping bags with #2 round tips. Fill one with red icing and one with white icing. Keep covered with a damp towel when not in use to prevent drying.
- Flood each cookie with alternating dots of red and white icing along the candy cane curve. While the icing is still wet, immediately drag a toothpick through the dots to create a marbled swirl pattern. Repeat quickly before icing begins to set.
- Let the decorated cookies dry at room temperature for at least 4 hours or overnight until the surface is firm and dry to the touch before stacking or storing.
Notes
For perfect stripes, ensure the red and white icings are the exact same 'medium' consistency—about like runny honey—and work quickly while the icing is still wet.