Holiday Lollipop Cookies

Add colour and pizzazz to your holiday cookie platter with these Holiday Lollipop Cookies! Spiralled and rolled cookie dough is topped with sparkling sugar and baked with a stick. These are sure to produce lots of smiles and crown you the winner of holiday baking!

I had so much fun making these Holiday Lollipop Cookies! Once I had prepared the red, green, and white dough, it was great fun mixing and matching the colours to create unique looking cookies. Once the cookies were cooled, I wrapped each one in cellophane, just the way you would find actual candy lollipops packaged in a store. They were certainly appreciated.

I have never been one to shy away from playing with my food even though most of us have grown up being to told not to. Playing with and experimenting with food is a great way to create new and exciting things to eat. And, if there is one thing that I can never get enough of, it’s food on sticks. What is it about food on sticks that appeals so greatly to the masses? Think of any carnival or summer fair you’ve been to. Now, think about all of those lineups of hungry people at those brightly coloured food trucks. How many of those food trucks serve food on sticks?

Is it a cleanliness issue? Do we love food on sticks because it eliminates the need for us to get our hands dirty? I can certainly see the appeal at a fair or a festival. (We all know there are so many germs on those rides!) Pulling food off of the stick with our teeth certainly helps to keep the germs on our hands from spreading to our food. I think it all comes down to having fun with food. And, I’m about to prove it with these Holiday Lollipop Cookies!

I’m going to tell you all about this cookie recipe and how you can make it in your home this holiday season, but first, I want to tell you about what you can expect from Lord Byron’s Kitchen this Christmas. I know we’re just kicking off the holiday season, but I have a lot of Christmas-themed recipes to share with you this year, so I’ve had to get started early.

Back in October, I kicked off the holiday season with a holiday recipe series called Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Donuts and followed that up with a second series called Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Appetizers. And now, I’m starting out on this new series, which is the sixth annual instalment! I cannot believe that this is the sixth year in a row that I’ve shared Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas! But, before we get to a list of ingredients and instructions for today’s recipe, let me tell you about this series and more!

LORD BYRON’S 24 COOKIES OF CHRISTMAS SERIES

Another holiday series, Lord Byron? Yes – why not!? Welcome, Dear Reader, to the fourth of my annual holiday recipe series for this season! This one is called Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas – Volume 6! I will try to keep the recipes in this series quick and easy, just like in previous years. Even if a recipe looks complex, I promise you that it is not! My goal, as always, is to share recipes with you that are not too complex to whip up as a holiday treat for your family. 

Like every other holiday series I’ve shared over the years, this series will share a new recipe every day for the next 24 days – even on Saturday and Sunday! You might be asking yourself, how many Christmas recipes could one possibly have or need? Well, I say you can never have too much of a good thing. And, I love having lots of choices. Who wants to prepare the same holiday recipes year after year?

SUBSCRIBE NOW SO THAT YOU NEVER MISS OUT ON NEW RECIPES!

So, welcome, Dear Reader, to Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas series! Even though this is the fourth series for this holiday season, you can always look back at previous years if you just cannot wait until the next recipe is published. Also, some of my favourite recipe collections from previous years are my 75 Homemade Gifts from Your Kitchen, my 50 Make Ahead Freezer Friendly Christmas Recipes, and my 30 No-Bake Christmas Recipes post.

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! Like in previous holiday recipe countdowns, I like to mix up the recipes in the series so that there is something for everyone. Are you ready!!??

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature!
• Sugar – Sugar will caramelize when baked, which will help to brown cookies and cakes.  In cookies, the sugar will help the dough to spread, and will create a crispness to the bottom of the cookie.
• Eggs – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Peppermint Extract – You can use any extract you prefer – even just plain vanilla!
• Flour – No need for anything special. Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Food Colouring
• Sanding Sugar

HOW TO MAKE HOLIDAY LOLLIPOP COOKIES

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well incorporated. Next, beat in the egg yolks and peppermint extract. Lastly, mix in the flour until a dough is formed. Divide the dough into three equal portions. Place one portion back into the mixing bowl and add the red food colouring. Beat it into the dough until incorporated and the dough turns a bright red. Remove the red dough and add another portion of the dough to the mixer.

Add the green food colouring and beat it into the dough until incorporated and the dough turns a bright green. Wrap all three portions of dough separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. When you are ready to bake, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk the egg white and water in a bowl and set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap it. Pinch off 2 tablespoon-sized pieces from each colour dough. (Any colour combination will do, but keep in mind that you will need three of those tablespoon-sized pieces for each cookie.) Roll each colour individually into a 12-inch roll. Lay one roll of each colour next to each other, and twist them to form a twisted rope effect. Roll the dough into a tight spiral shape.

Place it onto the prepared baking sheet and push a lollipop stick through the bottom end into the center of the spiral. Repeat this action until you have prepared enough lollipops to fill the baking sheet, being sure to leave 2 inches of space between each one. Brush the lollipops lightly with the egg and water mixture. Sprinkle over some of the sanding sugar and/or sprinkles. Bake in your preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

SANDING VS GRANULATED SUGAR

I use coarse sanding sugar quite often in my recipes, and I hope it hasn’t been too difficult for you to find. Sanding sugar is sometimes referred to as baking sugar, and there are some substitutes. You can use other sugars – which are basically the same, but named something differently – there’s pearl sugar and coarse sugar. You cannot, however, use granulated sugar. Let me explain why.

Whereas an individual granule of sanding sugar is large and hard, a single granule of granulated sugar is quite small. Sanding sugar will hold up to the heat in your oven without melting; granulated sugar will not. If you cannot find sanding sugar, then I’m afraid this recipe is not for you.

You can find sanding sugar online, but it’s expensive in comparison to what you can find at a baking supply store. I buy most of my sanding sugar at Bulk Barn. They have just about every colour you will need!

FOOD COLOURING

Before I get too far into this, I am just going to get this one thing out of the way. Yes, I did use food colouring to dye the cookie dough. Using food colouring is not ideal for some people, but I don’t personally have an issue with it. I know there are many “natural” ways of colouring food, so if you already employ those in other recipes, feel free to do so here too.

I have used only red and green. The white part of the cookie is made up of the cookie dough before any food colouring is added to it. I usually preach that using the gel type of food colouring is best, however, in this case, the liquid is much better. Normally, I would tell you that the gel will allow you to tint the cookie dough without changing the viscosity of the dough and that you may have to use too much of the liquid colouring to get the dough tinted enough. I have found that liquid works much better to get that nice colour.

STORING, PACKAGING, & FREEZING

When it comes to most cookies, they taste best at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well to being left out on your countertop for long periods of time. Cookies will stay fresh in a cookie jar or food-safe container with a lid for 3-5 days if left to sit on your kitchen countertop. You can store them in a food-safe container in your fridge. When you want one, two, or half a dozen, take them out of the container and place them in a single layer on a plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and they’re ready!

If you plan to freeze your Holiday Lollipop Cookies, you certainly can! Pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. I use these quite often when freezing baked goods. I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that freshness locked in!  

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. If you plan to give previously frozen cookies as a gift, I would lay them out on a wire cooling rack to thaw completely. If packaging, wait until the condensation has evaporated. Once thawed, pile into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon, or stack in a cookie tin/box.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!

Finally, as I stated previously, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 200 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!