Christmas candy canes

1/2  cup           granulated sugar
     1/2  cup           crushed peppermint candy canes
                        or hard peppermint candies
     1/2  cup           (1 stick) salted butter or
                        margarine, at room temperature
     1/2  cup           plain or butter-flavored shortening
   1      cup           confectioners' sugar
   1      large         egg
   1      teaspoon      vanilla extract
     1/2  teaspoon      peppermint extract
   2 1/2  cups          all-purpose flour
     1/2  teaspoon      liquid red food coloring


Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds. Preheat the oven to
375 degrees. Have ready two ungreased baking sheets. In a small bowl,
mix the sugar with the crushed candy; set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat
together the butter, shortening, confectioners' sugar, egg, vanilla,
and peppermint extract until light and fluffy, 2 or 3 minutes. With
the mixer at medium-low speed, gradually add the flour, beating just
until blended. Remove half of the dough from the bowl and set aside on
a sheet of waxed paper. To the dough remaining in the bowl, add the
red food coloring and beat until evenly colored. (At this point both
of the doughs can be tightly wrapped separately in aluminum foil and
refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for up to three months. If
frozen, thaw in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before
proceeding.)

For each candy cane, scoop 1 teaspoonful of the plain dough and the
same amount of pink dough. Roll each scoop between the palms of your
hands to make a 4-inch rope. Twist the ropes together and shape into a
candy cane. As they are made, arrange the canes on an ungreased baking
sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart.

Bake for about 9 minutes until firm to the touch and barely golden.
Reverse the baking sheets on the racks and from front to back once
during baking. The moment the cookies come from the oven, sprinkle
each one with the sugar-and-peppermint mixture. With a wide turner,
immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Store in a tightly covered container, separating the layers with
sheets of waxed paper.