I won for “Best Story” in the King Arthur’s Heritage Baking Contest at Old Deerfield, MA!!! Thank you, thank you very much!
I promised in my previous article – King Arthur Meets the Cheese Queen, to give you my recipe, so here it is along with my “award-winning” story:
With my plate of one dozen cookies for the judges to taste.
My Story
My mother, Risky Case
I can’t believe I’m sharing this recipe! I have guarded it for over 20 years now- ever since my mother handed the reins to me because she was too old to make them. My mother ate these cookies with us last Christmas when she was 93 and she passed a month later.
My mother was not a baker by any means. She was a career woman with a very limited repertoire of recipes. She had one pie she was pretty good at and these cookies. That was it. So, the importance of these cookies to my brothers and I was immeasurable! We waited all year for her to make them.
I am also a career woman and I know the meaning of a job deadline. But, in the 1990’s when the cookies first became my responsibility, I learned the meaning of pressure. My brothers start reminding me about them around September. Then, they start badgering me for an early release around October. I hold out until November, then I start mass producing them.
Typically, I make at least 6 double batches. I freeze them without the frosting. Then, at the beginning of December, I designate an entire day for frosting them. From that point on, I am expected to serve them on demand and I do mean demand!
I accept the pressure and the awesome responsibility because I love the fun of the whole thing. I tease my brothers by pretending I’m not going to make them. Then I pretend I’m out of them when they beg for them. I may not be much of a baker, but when December comes, I am the Queen of the kitchen.
Candy Cane Cookies
Makes 20
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup confectionery sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 cups King Arthur flour (measure and then sift)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oats (may be quick or old fashioned but quick is easier to work with)
Frosting:
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 16 oz bag of confectionery sugar
milk or water
red food coloring
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F.
Beat the butter and vanilla until creamy.
Add the sugar and beat until fluffy.
Add water.
Sift flour & salt and add to creamed mixture.
Stir in oats. Note: The dough should be very dry- just barely moist enough to hold together when you ball it up with your fingers. If it is too dry, add a bit more butter (not water). If it is moist, add flour.
Roll up pieces of dough in the palms of your hands and shape to make candy canes.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 325F for 10-15 minutes (until the bottoms are slightly brown).
Let cool for a few minutes before transferring to drying rack.
Frosting:
While cookies are cooling, make frosting: Beat water, vanilla and confectionery sugar until it is just thick enough to dip the cookies into.
Dip one side of the cookies in the white frosting and place the cookies on waxed paper. (There should be enough frosting on the cookie to make them somewhat white.) A lot of the frosting will drip off the cookie onto the waxed paper. This is OK and you can scrape off the extra and use it again.
When all are done, pick the cookies up, wipe off the sides if you have to and place them on a clean sheet of waxed paper.
When you are finished, there should be frosting left in the bowl. Add enough food coloring to make it red.
When the cookies are dry to the touch, drizzle the red frosting to make stripes on the candy canes. Or pipe it on.
Again, some of the frosting will drip off, so pick up the candy canes and move them to a fresh sheet of waxed paper.
Let the frosting dry before stacking cookies in airtight container.
They won’t last long:)
For printing:
Candy Cane Cookies
Makes 20
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup confectionery sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 cups flour (measure and then sift)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups oats (may be quick or old fashioned but quick is easier to work with)
Frosting:
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 16 oz bag of confectionery sugar
milk or water
red food coloring
Directions:
Beat the butter and vanilla until creamy.
Add the sugar and beat until fluffy.
Add water.
Sift flour & salt and add to creamed mixture.
Stir in oats.
Note: The dough should be very dry- just barely moist enough to hold together when you ball it up with your fingers. If it is too dry, add a bit more butter (not water). If it is moist, add flour.
Preheat oven to 325F.
Roll up pieces of dough in the palms of your hands and shape to make candy canes.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 325F for 10-15 minutes (until the bottoms are slightly brown).
Let cool for a few minutes before transferring to drying rack.
Frosting:
While cookies are cooling, make frosting: Beat water, vanilla and confectionery sugar until it is just thick enough to dip the cookies into.
Dip one side of the cookies in the white frosting and place the cookies on waxed paper. (There should be enough frosting on the cookie to make them somewhat white.) A lot of the frosting will drip off the cookie onto the waxed paper. This is OK and you can scrape off the extra and use it again.
When all are done, pick the cookies up, wipe off the sides if you have to and place them on a clean sheet of waxed paper.
When you are finished, there should be frosting left in the bowl. Add enough food coloring to make it red.
When the cookies are dry to the touch, drizzle the red frosting to make stripes on the candy canes. Or pipe it on.
Again, some of the frosting will drip off, so pick up the candy canes and move them to a fresh sheet of waxed paper.
Let the frosting dry before stacking cookies in airtight container.
They won’t last long:)
