Victory Is Mine, Happy, Yay!-the-Book-Is-Done Peppermint Cookies

1 c. powdered sugar

1 c. butter-flavored shortening (or 1/2 c. butter + 1/2 c. regular shortening)

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

2 1/2 c. flour

Topping

10-15 hard peppermint candies

1/4 c. sugar

Cream powdered sugar and shortening, add egg and extracts, then add flour. Form cookies. (I use a cookie press, but you can do this by hand.) This dough behaves like shortbread, so there's not a lot of spreading. If you form balls of dough, you need to flatten them before baking. If you want to get really energetic, you can dye half the dough red, form mini snakes of dough, twist one red and one white together, and make a candy-cane cookie, but that's way too much work for me. I have books to write.

Use a blender to crush peppermint candies into a fine powder. Add sugar and mix well to form topping.

Bake at 325°F for 9-11 minutes (these don't really brown much). Sprinkle with candy topping immediately after you remove them from the oven so that it will melt and stick to the cookies.

Now, victory is yours, too.