Rainbow Sugar Cookies

Since yesterday was National Sugar Cookie Day, I decided, naturally, to bake some sugar cookies.  Of course, I couldn't just make plain, simple sugar cookies.  I had to add a little something to them.  I originally found this decorating idea on a sampler recipe card from one of the big name baking brands (I can't quite remember which, maybe Betty Crocker?)

Cookie Stats:

Cookie:  Basic rolled almond sugar cookie, cut using the "log" method, colored white (no color), yellow, pink and blue

Decoration:  white, yellow, pink and blue sanding sugar around the edge

The "log" method makes these cookies extremely simple.  Simply roll the dough into a log, refrigerate, then slice.  The result is a round cookie of diameter equal to the diameter of the log.

The slight swirling of color is achieved by first rolling individual logs (maybe snakes is a better term, since they should be of small diameter) of each color and lining them up beside each other.  Then, while gripping all four colors, twist and roll until a single cylindrical log forms.  Now, each cookie slice will contain all four colors.

I always run into a small issue when making these cookies, since equal quantities of each color are needed.  Ideally, one should individually mix an equivalent amount of each color dough.  The coloring can be added early during the mixing process, which allows for even distribution of color and prevents over-mixing.  However, it's quite difficult to split a recipe into quarters, and it's even more unfeasible to make a whole batch of each color (resulting in quadruple the amount of dough).  So typically, I make one batch of dough, then split it into quarters and color three of  the parts.  The problem is, I'm now adding color to already prepared dough.  It's very difficult to incorporate the color without over mixing .  The result is that these cookies are usually made from over-worked dough.  Thankfully, sugar cookies are pretty lenient with mixing, so the texture and flavor does not suffer much.

The edge decoration comes from rolling each cookie dough slice in sanding sugar sprinkles.  To get the striped color effect, pour four lines of sugar next to each other (one in each color).  Then roll the cookie slice perpendicularly across the stripes to achieve nearly equal stripes of each color.

I prefer to use a rolled cookie recipe over a drop cookie recipe when making these cookies.  Rolled cookies keep their shape better when baking, which is really important when employing an edge decoration like this one.

UPDATE:  See Rainbow Sugar Cookies Redux for pictures

Daily Monku:  Humidity is a bitch.