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Years ago I used to make a certain kind of Christmas cookie made of sugar cookie dough that was divided into thirds before using food coloring to make the final cookie have three colors: white, red, and green. I wanted to try to make those again this year but couldn’t find my old recipe. So I decided to just use a sugar cookie dough recipe I’ve used before and then add a special touch: sprinkles.
Swirled Christmas Cookies
You probably have almost everything you need to make these cookies, other than the sprinkles and the food coloring.
Cream the butter and sugar together first.
Then add the egg and vanilla.
Mix together the dry ingredients.
Add them slowly to the wet ingredients until you have a thick dough.
Dump the dough onto parchment paper and divide into three equal portions (use a kitchen scale if you want to be very precise!).
Add red gel food coloring to one section and green to another. I ended up using my hands to fully combine the food coloring with the dough.
Now you should have three equal balls of differently colored dough.
Wrap them each in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge overnight.
The next day, when you’re ready to make the cookies, let the dough sit out for about 15 minutes and roll each color out. You want a rectangle about 1/8th inch thick, but it’s hard to do that perfectly, so I rolled out a very round rectangle and fold the edges over, then it will roll out better into a rectangle.
Do this for all three and then layer them on top of each other.
Starting on a long edge, roll the doughs into a tight cylinder. The ends will be a little weird, but that’s OK (you can use those to sample).
Dump out your sprinkles in a rimmed baking sheet on parchment paper.
Then just roll the cylinder in the sprinkles. Cut the dough into 1/3rd inch slices.
Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 13 minutes.
I only did one pan at a time, so I put the uncooked cookies in the fridge so the dough would stay together.
When they come out, you’ll have perfectly swirled Christmas cookies!
Let them cool on the pan first and then transfer them to a wire rack.
These are SO fun and festive and are perfect for gifting to friends and family.
I placed a bunch in a container from Walmart and plan to give some to one of my neighbors.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1.25 cups white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 1/2-1 cup sprinkles of your choice
- red and green food coloring
Directions
- Beat the butter and sugar together until combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture a little at a time.
- Dump the dough out on parchment paper and divide into three portions, using a bit of flour if it's very sticky.
- Add red food coloring to one third of the dough and green to the other. Mix into both doughs are solid colors.
- Wrap each ball of dough up in wax paper or plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
- The following day, set the dough out for about 15 minutes before you start rolling.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll each ball of dough into a rectangle about 1/8th of an inch thick.
- Place the rectangles on top of each other in whatever order you prefer. (If the final rectangle is a bit lopsided, you can trim the edges.)
- Roll the rectangle tightly until you have a cylinder.
- Pour the sprinkles into a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough in the sprinkles until you get a nice coverage.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the cookies about 1/3 inch thick.
- Place on baking sheets lined with parchment papers and bake for about 13 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to racks to cool.
