Christmas Swirl Sugar Cookies Recipe

Christmas Swirl Sugar Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 & ½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 2-3 tsp extract (I use a mixture of butter emulsion and vanilla, but you could use almond, too!)
• 2 & ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• No-Taste Red and Kelly Green Wilton gel food coloring
• Christmas sprinkles, if desired

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with silicone liners or mist lightly with cooking spray and set aside. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder + salt.
2. Cream together the butter and powdered sugar until blended. While it’s blending, crack your egg in a small bowl and beat it gently with your extracts of choice to combine. Add the egg/flavoring mixture and beat to incorporate.
3. Gradually add the flour mixture until a soft dough forms. When most of the dough sticks to the paddle of your mixer, it should be ready. Also, SugarBelle says when she gently presses her finger to the dough, it yields rather than sticks.
4. Turn your dough onto a flat, clean work space very lightly dusted with flour. Separate the dough into two even balls and make a nice dent in the middle of each. Take a butter knife and scrape some food coloring out from each bottle, then wipe the coloring into the dough ball dent (one color per ball).
5. Now, here’s the cool trick: start folding the dough in and around the colored dent in the middle. When you work the dough outside—>in, it will decrease the likelihood you’ll get dye on your fingers once you’ve achieved the color you like, you’re ready to make cookies!
6. Take a small Tablespoon-sized ball of dough from each color and press the dough balls together to form one big ball. Gently roll out the two-toned dough ball into a long snake shape. Starting from one end, roll up cinnamon roll-style until you have a swirly cookie. Roll the edges of the cookie in sprinkles, if desired.
7. Bake the cookies for 7-8 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time. Do not overbake them! Allow to cool on the cookie sheets about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. I’ve found this recipe easily makes two dozen cookies, and they stay quite moist and soft for several days when stored airtight.