Candy took the notebook and began to write, feeling a bit like an old-fashioned secretary taking a letter in shorthand for her boss. Once she’d finished, she put her first name at the top of the page, just like they’d done in English class, and sheer force of habit almost caused her pen to keep going. She caught herself just in time and drew a little doodle instead.

CANDY CANE COOKIES

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

THE TOPPING:

½ cup hard peppermint candy, crushed***

½ cup white (granulated) sugar

THE COOKIE DOUGH:

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks, ½ pound)

1 cup powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

1 beaten egg (just mix it up in a cup with a fork)

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

½ teaspoon red food coloring

Hannah’s 1st Note: Lisa and I prefer to use the big round peppermint candies that practically melt in your mouth because they’re a lot easier to crush.

To make the topping, place the peppermint candies in a sturdy plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin, or a mallet. You’ll need ½ cup to top your cookies.

In a small bowl, mix the ½ cup crushed peppermint candies with the ½ cup white sugar. Set the bowl aside for now.

To make the dough, you’ll need two bowls, a small and a medium-sized.

In the medium-sized bowl, combine the softened butter, powdered sugar, beaten egg, salt, and extracts. Stir until they’re well combined. Then add the flour in half-cup increments, stirring after each addition.

Round up the dough and divide it in half. Put one half in the small bowl and cover it with plastic wrap so it won’t dry out. This will be the white part of your Candy Cane Cookies.

Blend the red food coloring into the other half (the dough in the medium-sized bowl.) Mix it until it’s a uniform color. This will be the red part of your Candy Cane Cookies.

Lightly flour a breadboard or rectangular cutting board and place it on your counter. You’ll use this surface to roll the dough.

Remove a teaspoon of white dough from the small bowl and roll it into a four-inch-long roll by pushing it back and forth with the palms of your impeccably clean hands.

Remove a teaspoon of red dough from the bowl and form a similar four-inch-long roll.

Place the two rolls side by side on the board, hold them together, and twist them like a rope so that the resulting cookie resembles a candy cane. Pinch the ends together slightly so they won’t separate.

Place the cookie on an UNGREASED standard-size cookie sheet and bend down the top to make a crook. You should be able to get four Candy Cane Cookies in a row and three rows to a cookie sheet.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: The first time we made these, we rolled out a dozen white parts first and then we rolled out a dozen red parts. Our dough got too dry sitting on the board and the red and white twists we formed came apart. Now we shape these cookies one at a time and keep the dough bowls covered with plastic wrap when we’re not rolling. I’d really recommend forming these cookies one at a time.