Candy Stripe Twist Cookies

Christmas cookies that look like a candy cane or peppermint stick twist of white and red. One of the christmas cookies my mom always made.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Yields: 24-36 cookies

Ingredients

• 3 1⁄4 cups flour
• 4  teaspoons baking powder
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup butter or 1⁄2 cup margarine
• 1 1⁄4 cups sugar
• 1  egg
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  anise oil
• 1⁄4 cup milk

Directions

1. Sift together and set aside the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cream butter and sugar til fluffy.
3. Beat in egg and oil of anise.
4. Sift in dry ingredients a third at a time, alternately adding with milk.
5. Stir until well blended.
6. Divide dough in half and tint one half pink.
7. Pinch off 1 tsp each of pink and white dough and roll each into a pencil-thin strip about 5 inches long on a lightly floured board.
8. Place strips side by side, pressing ends together, then twist gently into a rope.
9. Shape into candy canes if desired, or leave straight for old-fashioned peppermint stick look.
10. Bake 1 inch apart at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until firm.
11. Cool on wire racks, then store between layers of waxed paper in cookie tin.