First add the butter and ½ cup of the sugar to a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Then, add in the flax egg and peppermint extract/ paste and whip together about 10 more seconds.

Next, add in sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the mixing bowl. Mix JUST until a smooth and thick cookie batter forms and no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix or else you will form too much gluten and the cookies will not spread as much and be tough.

Add 3 tablespoon of the crushed peppermint candies to the mixing bowl and mix in.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, add to the fridge, and let chill for 30 minutes- 1 hour.

Cover a baking sheet in parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F. Next, remove the dough from the fridge and use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to form your cookie dough (40 grams per cookie of dough).

Roll into balls between your palms and then roll in the 2 tablespoon of sugar that was set aside so that each dough ball is coated. Then, press a few pieces of the remaining crushed peppermint candies onto the top of each dough ball.

Place the candy cane cookie dough balls onto the baking sheet at least 2 inches apart since they will spread while baking.

Bake for 10-13 minutes until bottoms are lightly browned and the cookie is cooked through but has slightly soft centers. The cookies will continue baking after they are removed from the oven so the centers should still be soft, but not glossy or raw, when they are removed from the oven.

Remove the cookie tray from the oven and immediately tap the tray on the counter to produce a more “wrinkly” cookie. Then, let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes. The cookies will be soft and puffy out of the oven and will naturally deflate a little while cooling.

Move the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. Serve and enjoy!