Candy Cane Cookies

This Holiday Season our family is starting some new traditions, based on the book, "A Christ-Centered Christmas," by Emily Freeman(a fellow Celiac).  The book guides you through 7 traditions inspired by the nativity.  This week we focused on the shepherds.  As part of the evening we made these candy cane cookies, that were the shepherd's staffs.  The kids had so much fun rolling and twisting their dough to form these delicious cookies.  They came out perfect.  The original recipe comes from the book and I just altered it to fit our diet.
Here is the gluten free version so you can enjoy them with your family.

1/2 c. butter(I used Earthbalance's Dairy Free butter)
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk( I used 1 T. lite coconut milk + water to = 1/2 c.)
1 egg
 1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. xanthan gum
1 t. unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 c. sorghum flour
1 c. millet flour
1 c. tapioca flour
1 t. peppermint extract
red food coloring
Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add in milk, egg, vanilla and mix well.  In a separate mixing bowl sift togehter the dry ingredients and then add to the butter mixture.  Mix well.  Divide dough in half.  Stir red food coloring and peppermint flavoring into half of the dough.  Refrigerate doughs for 4-6 hours.
For each candy cane, roll 1 Tablespoon from each of the red and white dough into a 4 in. rope( if your hands get sticky, spray them lightly with cooking spray).  Place one red rope and one white rope side by side, press together gently and twist.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet (or Silpat). Curve top down to form a candy cane.  Bake at 425 for 9-11 min.  Let cool.

One of my favorite blogs is the Gluten Free Homemaker.  She hosts a cooking challenge each month and for December it is Christmas cookies.  I thought these would be perfect.  Check out her blog for other great recipes. www.glutenfreehomemaker.blogspot.com. 
This is also linked to http://www.thesensitivepantry.com/the-sensitive-pantry/2010/11/30/calling-all-cookies.html, this is a new blog I found and I can't wait to check it out even more.  They have some great cookie recipes posted.  Check them out!