Candy Cane Sugar Cookies + Frothy Chocolate Milk
It’s finally Christmas Eve - and you know what that means…
It means we have to make milk and cookies for Santa Claus.
Even as I’ve gotten older, I feel like Christmas Eve is still incomplete without leaving milk and cookies out before I got to sleep. In past years, we’ve left a combination of all of the leftover cookies gifted from neighbors and friends, along with a few of our own scraps. This year, however, I’ve had so much extra time on our hands since none of my extended family has been in town, I thought I’d make the Christmas Eve cookies and milk extra special.
I started working in a coffee shop in my college town this past August. I actually listed it in my Top 5 Favorite Coffee Shops post a while back, so I find it kind of funny that a year later I’m working there. One of the girls who I usually work shifts with and I love to experiment with different drinks, but she recently stopped wanting to drink so much caffeine and got on a chocolate milk kick. Every time we work together, she mixes oat milk and our chocolate sauce together — which strangely always sounds so good in the moment. This is strange because it’s coming from someone who doesn’t like sweet coffee or sweet drinks very much. One day in particular, I told her she should blend it up to make it all frothy. She did, and she said it was amazing. So, frothy chocolate milk became her thing. I loved the idea of it so much, it became my inspiration for the “milk” part of this milk and cookies recipe.
I don’t care how old you are, you can never be too old for chocolate milk. Regular milk though — that’s a completely different story, and I won’t ruin my Christmas Eve by getting into my disgust of regular cow milk drinkers (my best friend is one of them, so I feel like I’m allowed to be passionate about my disgust).
Anyway, Mattie, if you’re reading this… which you probably aren’t… this frothy chocolate oat milk is for you :)
Now onto the cookies. I couldn’t do a “12 Days of Christmas” Recipes and not include something with candy canes. Speaking of - OMG it’s the 12th day! We made it! I honestly didn’t think I would be able to keep up with cooking, photographing, and posting each day… my kitchen definitely did not keep up with it, that’s for sure.
Okay, back to candy canes. If you know me, you know candy canes are one of my favorite holiday sweets and peppermint + chocolate is one of my favorite combinations, anytime of the year. Sugar cookies are also one of my favorite cookies, if not my favorite. Call me basic, but I call it finding beauty in the simplicity of sugar, butter, and vanilla. Not to mention it’s the classic Christmas cookie. Sugar cookies are all about the texture to me, though. They have to be somewhat thin, soft, moist and chewy on the inside—to the point where it’s almost toffee-like for about 1/2 a second and then it instantly dissolves in your mouth—and ever-so-slightly crispy on the outside. This sounds almost impossible to accomplish… like soft and crispy and chewy at the same time? But this recipe does all of that and more. The little chewy, melted candy cane bits really do accentuate that toffee-like texture and add the perfect, subtle punch of peppermint flavor. These cookies are also pretty adaptable to your texture liking. If you like a softer cookie, bake for 10 minutes. If you like a thinner, crunchier, and more toffee-like cookie, bake for 15 minutes. You can tell in the pictures I did a mixture of both times, and they’re delicious either way!
My secret ingredient that gives these cookies that added chewiness: brown sugar. Brown sugar usually isn’t found in sugar cookies because you want the color to be pale, but I add just a smidge in this recipe to keep the cookies blonde, but extra chewy and soft.
So, yeah. For Santa this Christmas, I’m leaving him these Candy Cane Cookies and Frothy (dairy-free) Chocolate Milk. I hope he leaves me something good in return…
Candy Cane Sugar Cookies + Frothy Chocolate Milk
makes about 30ish cookies and 1 glass of chocolate milk
for the cookies:
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tbs. brown sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
4 regular-sized candy canes, finely crushed
3 additional candy canes, roughly crushed (larger shards are okay here)
for the milk:
1 cup oat milk of choice (I really like Chobani)
3/4 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 - 1.5 tbs. agave syrup, depending on sweetness liking
3 ice cubes (so specific, but trust me)
Preheat the oven to 350º F.
In a standing mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Add in the egg, salt, and vanilla, and beat until combined. Slowly add in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Finally, add in the baking soda, baking powder, and 4 finely crushed candy canes, beating until everything is combined.
Scoop and roll into balls about 1/3 the size of your palm. Arrange onto lightly greased baking sheets (I had to use 3 total). Lightly press down the tops of them to flatten them just enough to hold the extra crushed candy canes on top. Top each candy cane with a sprinkle of the 3 additional roughly crushed candy canes.
Place in the oven on a middle rack and bake for 10 minutes (color is still completely white, but cookies are flattened and look like they are almost done) or 15 minutes (cookies should be lightly golden and starting to crack). Let cool for at least 10 minutes so that they finish cooking through and firm up.
While cooling, make the chocolate milk:
This is literally so easy. Just throw those 4 simple ingredients into the blender and blend until frothy. The oat milk makes it super creamy and easy to froth, so it should just take about 30 seconds of blending.
Now set the cookies and milk out for Santa and go to sleep… or eat them yourself.
Well, that’s it. That concludes my “12 Days of Christmas” Recipes. It’s been really fun… and REALLY messy. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back tomorrow morning, bright and early, with another Christmas morning breakfast recipe :) See you then!
