These kid-friendly candy cane cookies are made without any artificial colors or dyes. Perfect for little ones to enjoy as a festive treat!
We love baking and making all sorts of treats during the festive period. The kids usually enjoy getting involved in making the batter for cakes and muffins or shaping cookies into different festive shapes.
This time, we wanted to make some candy cane–style cookies that are more kid-friendly, without any food color dyes or white refined sugar. They are very easy to make and have a buttery shortbread texture. I like to make half of them in the classic white-and-red candy cane colors, while the other half are made with a chocolate and plain flavor combination.
If you are looking for more festive cookie recipes that are kid-friendly and low in sugar, check my chocolate spiced Christmas cookies.
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👩🏻🍳 Why you should try my recipe
- Without any refined sugar added.
- No red color dyes or artificial food coloring used.
- Suitable for kids of all ages.
- Easy to prepare and shape dough.
- Stored at room temperature for up to 10 days.
🥘 Ingredients
To make these kid-friendly candy cane cookies, we are going to use all-purpose flour, baking powder, butter, coconut sugar, vanilla extract, egg, cocoa powder, beet powder and freeze-dried raspberries.
- Butter: Shortbread cookies have a lot of butter to get that crisp and melt-in-mouth texture. Keep the butter cold, in the fridge until ready to use.
- Beet powder & Raspberries: I'm using beet powder and freeze-dried raspberries to get a nice red color for part of the dough. The beet powder is very fine and gives the dough a nice red color and in combination with the dried raspberries (turned into powder too), you can barely taste it. Alternatively, you can only use the dried raspberries.
- Coconut sugar: I add about half a cup of coconut sugar for some sweetness. The only downside is that the dark color of it, makes the dough a bit darker than traditional butter cookies.
For full quantities and to print the recipe, see the recipe card below.
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
So get your ingredients ready and let's get started!
01. To start, I place in a food processor the dry ingredients. I add the flour, coconut sugar and baking powder and give a couple of swirls just to mix up everything.
02. Then, I cut the cold butter into cubes and add each piece to the food processor. I mix everything until it reaches a coarse, sandy texture.
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Buy On Amazon03. I add the egg and vanilla extract, and give it a few more spins until it looks more doughy. Don't worry if it's not one piece yet, we are going to use are hands to press it together.
04. Now that the plain dough is ready, I want to divide it into 3 bowls before shaping the cookies. I put half of the dough into one bowl and then split the rest in two bowls (a quarter of the initial dough in each).
05. In one of the bowls with the quarter of the dough, I add the cocoa powder and gently knead it with my hands until it’s fully incorporated and the dough becomes a uniform chocolate color.
06. In the other quarter, I add the beet and raspberry powder and knead it again until it's well combined and has a dark red color.
07. To shape the candy cane cookies, I cut the red dough into 16 pieces and the same with the chocolate dough. Then I split the plain dough in half, and cut each into 16 pieces.
08. I take one piece of the cocoa one and one of the plain dough and roll them into a rope. I twirl the two ropes together and gently press to become one. Then I curve one side a little bit to make the cane shape.
09. I place the candy cane cookies on a lined baking tray and bake them for 12-14 minutes. They are fairly thin, and if left too long in the oven, they will darken and become hard.
10. I repeat the same with the red dough for the rest of the candy cane cookies. When the cookies come out of the oven, let them sit for 3–4 minutes before removing them from the tray, as they can break easily.
💭 Tips
- Don't take the butter out of the fridge until it's time to use.
- Press the end of the rolled ropes with your finger gently to make a flat end.
- Don't overbake the cookies, as they will get too hard and dark.
- Leave the cookies to rest for 3-4 minutes before removing from the tray, as they are very easy to break.
🧰 Storage
If you have any leftover candy cane cookies, store them in an airtight container and consume within 10 days.
❓ FAQ
Beet powder is what gives part of the dough a strong red color to resemble candy canes. You could leave it out and just use dried raspberries or strawberries turned into powder. The cookies will not be that red but they will still taste good.
If you tried my candy cane cookies or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
📋 Recipe
Candy Cane Cookies (kid-friendly)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375gr)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup coconut sugar (85gr)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (220gr) cold
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon milk
- 2 teaspoons beet powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried-freeze raspberries (powder)
Instructions
- In a food processor, add the flour, baking powder, coconut sugar. Give it a few spins to combine.
- Cut the cold butter into cubes and add it to the food processor. Mix until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Add the vanilla extract and egg. Give it a few spins until it comes together and feels like dough. If it crumbles a little bit, it's fine.
- Empty the dough in a bowl and lightly press with your hands to bring it together. Separate the dough into four equal pieces.
- Take one of the quarters and put it into a bowl. Add the cocoa powder and milk. Knead until it's combined and the dough has a chocolatey color.
- Take another quarter and add the beet and raspberry powder. Knead until it's incorporated.
- Place the red dough and one of the quarter of plain dough in the fridge while you work on the chocolate candy cane cookies.
- Split each dough into 16 equal pieces. Take one piece of plain dough and one piece of the chocolate one.
- Roll each dough into a rope. Connect one end of the plain rope with one end of the chocolate rope. Twist them together all the way to the other end, gently pressing to seal the two doughs. Shape into a slight curve to resemble a candy cane.
- Place the candy cane cookies on a lined baking tray. Continue with the rest of the dough. The recipe makes 16 chocolate candy cane cookies and 16 red candy cane cookies.
- Bake in a preheated oven to 350℉ / 180℃ for 12-14 minutes.
Video
Notes
- To turn dried-freeze raspberries into powder, you can use a food processor or a pestle and mortar.
- If the dough gets too sticky, place it in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Nutrition
🥣 More to try
If you liked my kid-friendly candy cane cookies, you should try some of these recipes too:
Despina
They were delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!
Merry Christmas 🎄
Julia Droulia
Thank you so much Despina!
Julia Droulia
I really loved creating this recipe and post for you; I hope you make it and enjoy the cookies as much as we do. Please leave me a comment here and share your feedback with a star rating as well