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The recipe I tried was an old Martha St*wart recipe and although she can employ professional chef's to make them oh-so-perfect and completely picture perfect, I think the finished cookie on an everyday average housewife level was pretty good too. They take a long time to make so be sure you have a good 2-3 hour window 'free' to embark on these if you decide to make them. I personally got to the point where I was so sick of making them that I got a little sloppy, my lines weren't perfectly straight and I didn't care anymore. At that point I threw away the rest of the batter (which would have made about 2 more cookies) and called out 'Enough!'. Unfortunately for me they were a huge hit with my family, they loved them and they've since declared we have yet another 'must have' during the holidays.
Before you start this recipe take a large piece of cardboard or tape two pieces of heavy card stock together. Using an exacto knife cut a rectangle in the center 3 inches by 6 inches. This will be your 'stencil' for the cookies.
Candy Striped Cookie Sticks
8 large egg whites
2 c sugar
2 c flour
1/4 t salt
1 1/4 sticks butter, melted
6 T heavy cream
1 1/2 t vanilla
Preheat oven to 400 degree's while you place the egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix on medium until foamy. Mix in flour and salt. Add melted butter, cream and vanilla. Mix. Place 3/4 c batter into each of two bowls. Tint one pink and one red. Transfer the tinted batter to decorator bags with a small round tip or if you don't have them, use a large ziplock baggy with a tiny corner cut off.
Lay the cardboard stencil on a silpat mat on a baking sheet or on parchment lined baking sheets. Using heaping tablespoon of dough, spread it in the stencil, smooth and lift the stencil to leave a rectangle cookie dough shape. Use the pink and red colored dough to pipe stripes on your cookie. Bake 6-8 minutes until the edges are pale golden brown.
Immediately loosen the edge of the cookie with a spatula and flip it over. Starting from one of the long sides, roll the cookie up into a cylinder shape - or a cookie stick or 'roll'. Let cool completely.
These cookies set up fast after they come out of the oven so you must work quickly. I found it best to have three cookie sheets going at one time, as I would take one out of the oven I would have another cookie ready to go in, and one half way done cooking. This way I was removing a cookie and rolling it approximately every 3 minutes.
Makes about 25-30 cookies.
