This delicious—and easy!—recipe will make a plateful of cookies or a bough-ful of edible Christmas tree decorations. But I’m guessing that you won’t be able to keep your mitts off ‘em to keep the tree trimmed until Christmas Eve. Here’s how to make them:

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. In a large bowl, cream together ¾ cup of softened butter and 1 cup of sugar; add 1 egg, and beat well. Mix in 1 teaspoon each of peppermint extract and vanilla, then gradually stir in 2 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour. Divide the dough in half, and add several drops of red food coloring to one half.

Refrigerate both halves of dough for at least 30 minutes, then roll out a tablespoon each of red dough and plain dough until they are each 6 inches long. Twist the rolled dough together and pinch the ends, then bend one end into the shape of a candy cane. Place the candy cane on an ungreased cookie sheet, and repeat the rolling technique until all of the dough has been used. Bake for 8 minutes.