As a child, every year at Christmas time, my mom, sisters, and I baked Christmas cookies. There was lots of spoon-licking involved, back before we knew not to eat raw cookie dough.

The Christmas cookie lineup in my home always included crispy candy cane cookies made with a hint of sweet almond extract. When looking for a gluten-free version of this recipe, nothing was quite the same as the retro cookies I remembered.

Thankfully, my sister has a hand-written copy of our family's recipe (which I think was originally in a Betty Crocker cookbook). I have reworked that gluten-filled recipe, which called for regular all-purpose flour. These gluten-free candy cane sugar cookies taste just like the cookies of my childhood.

I hope your family enjoys them as much as mine does!

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Ingredients

Overhead view: butter, shortening, sugar, powdered sugar, flour, vanilla extract, almond extract, red food coloring, crushed candy canes in a bowl with a mini candy cane resting on top, brown egg, milk, small square bowl with baking powder and salt.

Most of these ingredients are gluten-free kitchen staples, especially around the holiday baking season.

Gluten-Free Flour: Use a gluten-free replacement flour blend that contains xanthan gum, such as King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure-for Measure Flour, Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour, or Cup4Cup Gluten Free Multipurpose Flour. I use King Arthur, as it is my personal go-to replacement flour for baking cakes and cookies and is always in my pantry.

Butter (softened): I have only tested this recipe with butter. However, some bakers are firmly in the "never use butter for cookies" camp. If that's you, please note that the original recipe allows for margarine in place of butter.

Shortening: I use Crisco shortening sticks for easy measurement.

Almond Extract and Vanilla Extract: Almond extract tastes nothing like almonds. It is a simply sweet almond essence that pairs beautifully with vanilla creating subtle hints of sweetness in this traditional Christmas cookie.

Box of Betty Crocker Gel Food Color with a photo of four cupcakes with four different colors of frosting (bright red, blue, yellow & green) on the front.

Red Gel Food Color: I used Betty Crocker's Gel Food Colors. It carries a gluten-free claim on the label, although, most food coloring is unlikely to contain gluten ingredients.

Crushed Candy Canes: I crushed YumEarth Candy Canes in my Blendec blender for a few seconds. You can also crush candy canes by placing them in a plastic bag and smashing them with the back of a spoon. It takes approximately 3 full-size candy canes to make ¼ cup of crushed candy canes.

Birds eye view: mini candy canes in a blender.

Birds eye view: crushed candy canes in a blender.

More Kitchen Staples: powdered sugar, milk, salt, granulated sugar

Step-By-Step Instructions

Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to mix butter, shortening, confectionary sugar, egg, milk, and flavorings in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix for 1-2 minutes on medium speed until the mixture has the creamy consistency of frosting. As you're mixing, you'll quickly notice the sweet aroma of almond and vanilla extracts.

Overhead view: bowl with egg, flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla and almond extract, shortening and butter.

Overhead view of an aqua hand mixer beating batter that is pale yellow and chunky.

Blend in flour and salt. At this point the dough is sticky, but it will become workable after it chills.

Overhead view of beaters mixing dough that is floury and crumbly.

Beaters with cream-colored dough, over a bowl with smooth dough.

Divide dough in half. Place half the dough in a small bowl with a lid or cover with plastic wrap. Blend the red gel food coloring into the other half still in the mixing bowl.

A small bough of dough over a larger ball filled with the other half of the dough.

Overhead view: cream dough with a small amount of red gel food color in the center.

Chill dough for 2 hours. The chill time is essential, both for being able to shape the candy canes and to keep the butter cold, which will prevent flat cookies.

Preheat oven to 375℉. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Stir together crushed candy cane pieces and sugar. Have the mixture ready to sprinkle on the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.

Crushed candy canes being poured into a cup of sugar.

Overhead view: a small fork mixing crushed candy canes with sugar.

Work with a small amount of dough at a time, keeping the rest of the dough chilling in the fridge. I like to scoop out enough dough to shape four or five cookies fairly quickly.

I recommend working with the dough on wax paper or parchment paper and using a light dusting of flour to prevent sticking.

Shape each candy cane cookie:

Scoop or pinch approximately 1-inch round from each of the red and white dough bowls.
Roll one white piece and one red piece into two 4-inch ropes.
Gently press the edges of 1 white rope and 1 red rope together and twist.
Place on prepared baking sheet.
Curve the top of the twisted cookie dough down to form a candy cane shape.

A row of white dough balls next to a row of red/pink dough balls, on parchment paper.

Overhead view: fingers rolling out white dough strip. Background, rolled out red dough strip and balls of red dough on the side.

Bake for approximately 9 minutes, until the edges are a light golden brown. Do not overbake.

Immediately sprinkle the candy cane sugar mix on top of the cookies while they are still on the baking sheet. Wait 2 minutes before carefully transferring the cookies to a wire rack.

Overhead view: 9 candy cane cookies on a baking sheet, sprinkled with candy cane sugar.

Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Storage

Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. These cookies are delicate, so make sure they have cooled completely and handle them gently when transferring to a storage container. For best results, do not store gluten-free cookies in the refrigerator, as they will dry out.

Store unbaked dough in the fridge for up to 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

You can even pre-shape these festive candy cane cookies and store them unbaked in the freezer, ready to bake throughout the season:

Form the candy cane cookies.
Freeze on a baking sheet for one hour, or until solid.
Store in a bag or airtight container for up to 2 months.
When ready to bake, place frozen cookies on a baking sheet and bake at 375℉ for approximately 11 minutes.

Valentine's Day Peppermint Heart Cookies

3 red/pink gluten-free, heart-shaped peppermint cookies and two mini candy canes formed into a heart shape.

This gluten-free recipe can be used to make adorable red/pink and white peppermint hearts for Valentine's Day. Make the dough as directed with or without food coloring, then roll it out, as you would sugar cookie dough. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make Valentine's hearts.

Adjust your baking times for the size of the cookies. The mini hearts pictured were made with an approximately 1 ½ inch cookie cutter from this heart-shaped set. They take only 5 minutes to bake. Immediately sprinkle with crushed candy canes.