Recipe by Alice Medrich
Addictively crispy and festive with colorful sprinkles and/or cinnamon sugar. Cookie Sticks start with Renewal Mill Sugar Cookie mix, made with a tad less oil and water, to which we add a fresh hit of citrus zest for flavor. The dough is rolled into long skinny worms, (sticks) and coated with sprinkles and/or cinnamon sugar.
Holiday Crispy Cookie Sticks
Serves 12
WHAT YOU NEED
- 1 package Renewal Mill Sugar Cookie Mix
- 1 bright skinned (preferably organic or un-sprayed) orange or lemon
- 1/3 cup grapeseed or sunflower oil
- ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp water
- About 1/2 cup colorful sprinkles and/or ½ cup sugar with 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon.
- 1 or 2 baking sheets lined with parchment.
- A flexible cutting mat, rimless baking sheet, or large piece of cardboard wrapped in foil.
INSTRUCTIONS
Position a rack in the center of the oven, or (to bake two sheets at a time) one rack in the upper third and another in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Pour the entire bag of sugar cookie mix into a bowl. Grate the orange or lemon zest directly into the bowl over the mix. Add oil and water (using the amounts listed above, rather than those on the package). Stir with a stiff spatula or wooden spoon–or your hands—until all the ingredients are thoroughly moistened and form a thick sticky dough.
Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough and set them aside.
Scatter sprinkles and/or cinnamon sugar in a wide swath across the center of the cutting mat, rimless baking sheet or foil wrapped cardboard. This is your portable work surface.
At one end of the work surface, use your fingers to roll dough pieces into skinny worms about as long as the width of your baking sheets—and then roll them into the sprinkles and/or cinnamon sugar. Roll each worm to the end of mat to get them out of your way. Continue rolling worms, adding more sprinkles/cinnamon sugar to the surface as needed.
Roll worms off the end of the work surface onto the lined baking sheets, keeping them 2 inches apart (they will spread!). Use your fingers to bend the worms into gentle zigzags, if desired.
Bake a single pan (on the center rack) or bake two pans (in the upper and lower thirds of the oven) until cookies are golden brown at the edges, 10-12 minutes. Halfway through the baking time, rotate the center sheet from back to front or rotate two sheets from upper to lower racks and back to front.
Set the pans on racks to cool. Shape and bake the remaining dough, making sure baking sheets are cool between batches.
When cookies are completely cool, store them in an air-tight container or sealable bag to keep them crispy.