Candy Cane Cookies

Another thing on my list to do while my mom was with us, was to make my family's traditional Christmas cookies. They are called Candy Cane cookies. When I was young we would have a huge baking day at my Gma's house with all the aunts and cousins. It would take all day and several dozen tins. We had so much fun. We would make all sorts of cookies, fudges and toffees. I have never made these since we were married. But I wanted Jared and his family to try them. Luckily they were a success.

The girls loved watching and helping Gma put the ingredients in. At one point we thought Anne had put in way to too much almond extract. But luckily someone thought about little girl helpers when they designed the bottle.

Each girl got a chance to cut out shapes in the dough.

They turned out a bit pink instead of red, but they tasted just as wonderful. I had forgotten how good they were. So I decided to share the recipe with you all.

Candy Cane Cookies:

1 Cup Shortening

1 Egg

1 t. Vanilla

1 cup Powerdered Sugar

1 1/2 t. Almond Extract

2 1/2 cup Flour

1 t. Salt

Red Food Coloring

Sugar, crushed candy canes, or peppermints

Mix together 1st five ingredients. Sift together flour, salt and mix with other ingredients. Divide dough in half and color half red. Roll into strips and then intertwine to make small striped canes. Bake at 375° F for 9 minutes. Cover wtih the peppermints or sugar.

Note: Bring them out of the oven just before they start to brown, so they don't get dry. We found that the canes are very fragile. So we just roll the dough out and use cookies cutters. The kids love helping with that.