It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas Cookies

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and this year, I'll be spending it sucking dinner through a straw. Jaw surgery sucks! When I made my halloween Dexter-inspired blood spatter sugar cookies, I had lots of dough left. I wasn't about to throw perfectly good cookie dough away - unsalted butter is expensive! I played with some gel food colouring, rolled it into a tube, and froze it for later use. Let me tell you, this dough freezes and thaws absolutely perfectly.

Thawed cookie dough

Isn't that gorgeous? Using my perfect rolled sugar cookie recipe, I cut the dough into two portions. The plain, white portion was rolled out into a flat rectangular (sort of) shape. The second half of the dough was kneaded with food colouring, rolled out flat, and placed on top of the white dough. I then started from one end and rolled the dough like cinnamon rolls, wrapped it in saran wrap, and rolled it very tightly.

After rolling the dough tightly with saran wrap to press those layers firmly in place, the dough should be chilled at least an hour before use, else it will be quite soft and can be difficult to keep round when cutting. With a sharp knife or dental floss, slice cookies from the cylinder and roll the cylinder every time to avoid one flat spot. Bake at 200°C/400°F without fan assist for approximately 6-8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack until ready to use.

Not to toot my own horn, but I think they look great! It would have been a shame to cover up that nifty swirl with icing, though. Instead, I ground up some candy canes in the food processor (VERY noisy work!), piped a bit of royal icing along the cookie edges, then dipped the wet icing into the crumbs. I also dipped some in some fun-coloured sprinkles. If you need a recipe for royal icing, you can find one from Alton Brown's website here. Basically, mix pasteurized egg white with confectioner's sugar and a bit of desired flavour extract until it has the right consistency. You can thin with water if needed.

If you liked my recipe idea for these super fun swirly christmas sugar cookies, feel free to leave a comment below! You can find other recipes on my recipes page, and as always, you can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as Quite Chefy.

Until next time, stay Chefy!