Friday, August 1, 2014

Colorful Icebox Cookies


I LOVE these cookies and will be making many more in the future!! From a young age I have always loved the taste of the sugar cookies you would get from the store during the holidays that had a santa or tree in the middle.  They were so addicting and the best right out of the oven.  These cookies completely satisfied that craving.  They were buttery and very addicting.  I especially loved the sprinkles on the outside to gives these cookies the extra pop.

I was really nervous when rolling the cookies that the spiral wouldn't come out the way I wanted it to, but it looked great in the end!!!  Super easy too!  Just need some time to let the dough sit and cool in the fridge and these cookies are pretty simple.  Great to make the dough one night and then it can be stored in the fridge for about a week before being made.  The cookie dough would freeze wonderfully too! In fact, I will make some of this dough this summer to stick into the freezer to have easy cookies to make through out the school year when I have less free time.  

Since I made these for a celebration of the beginning of summer, I made mine yellow and white. However, you can make these any color you want. For example, these would be wonderful as pink and red for valentines day or a green and white for St. Patricks day.


Yield: About 3 dozen                                                                             
Ingredients 
2
cups unsifted cake flour
½
teaspoon baking powder
¼
teaspoon salt
cup unsifted powdered sugar
¼
cup granulated sugar
sticks unsalted butter, cold
1
teaspoon vanilla
½
teaspoon almond (or other) extract*
½
teaspoon of food coloring (your choice)
2
tablespoon unsifted cake flour
cups multi-colored nonpareil decors
*Use whatever extract you want. I used almond. You can use lemon, strawberry, vanilla, or whatever your heart desires.  However, flavor both of the colors the same. I tried two different extracts and one just ended up over powering the other.

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugars in a food processor and process briefly to mix.  Add the butter in pieces; process with on/off bursts until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal. Add the vanilla and process until the mixture just forms a ball.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions then return one of the portions to the food processor. Add the strawberry extract, food coloring, and the extra tablespoons of flour to the processor and process until just incorporated. ***I just used a kitchenaid and it seemed to work fine!!

2. Roll out each portion of dough between sheets of waxed paper. You want a rectangle about 11 × 8½ inches by ⅛ inch thick. Leave the dough between the sheets of waxed paper and slide onto a baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
Remove dough pieces from refrigerator. Pour the nonpareil decors into a shallow rectangular dish (such as a 9 × 13-inch pan.

3. Peel off the top sheet of waxed paper from both doughs. Brush the vanilla dough very lightly with water. Using the waxed paper, lift the strawberry dough and flip it onto the vanilla dough so they are stacked. Press with your fingertips to seal the two doughs together. Remove the top sheet of waxed paper and trim the edges even.

4. When the dough is just pliable (but still cold), roll up the dough(begin with the long side) like a jellyroll. As you begin to roll, gently curl the edge with your fingertips so you don’t get any air pockets as you roll dough into a log. As you roll, the vanilla portion may want to tear, pinch tears together as they happen and keep rolling.

5. After forming the dough into a log, throw away the waxed paper. Gently lift the log on top of the nonpareil decors in the dish and roll until the log is completely coated with decors. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to slice (from 4 hours to a week, or freeze for up to 2 months; defrost in the refrigerator overnight before slicing).

6. Heat oven to 325°. To bake, slice the log into ⅛- to ¼-inch-thick cookies and bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 15 to 17 minutes, until the cookies are no longer shiny on top and the bottoms of the vanilla portion are golden.
Recipe from Sprinkles Bakes


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