Christmas Swirl Cookies Dee Dees Recipes

HOLIDAY SWIRLED SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Increase the mixer speed to medium high, add the vanilla and egg and beat until incorporated. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture in 2 batches and beat until just combined. Shape the dough into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Generously dust a work surface with confectioners' sugar. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch, dusting with more confectioners' sugar as needed. (Return the dough to the refrigerator if it gets too soft.) Cut out shapes with a 2-inch round cookie cutter and arrange 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the scraps and cut out more cookies. Refrigerate the cookies until firm, about 1 hour.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Bake the cookies, rotating the pans halfway through, until lightly browned around the edges, 9 to 11 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheets.
• For the royal icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in a large bowl. Add 7 tablespoons water and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft glossy peaks form, adding up to 8 tablespoons water if necessary to make a smooth icing that thickly coats the back of a spoon.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment and set a cooling rack on top.
• Put 1/4 cup icing into each of 2 small bowls. Add 9 drops red food coloring to one bowl and stir until evenly combined. Add 2 drops green food coloring to the second bowl and stir until evenly combined. Pour the remaining white icing into a clean rimmed baking sheet and spread or shake to evenly coat it. Drizzle the red icing all over the white, then drizzle the green icing over both. One at a time, put the cookies face-side down in the baking sheet icing. Take the cookies out one at a time, shaking gently to let excess icing drip off, and place right-side up on the prepared cooling rack. Decorate with edible glitter or sprinkles if desired. Let the icing harden completely before serving, about 1 hour.

CINNAMON ROLL COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookie dough: Cream together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg and continue to mix until well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and nutmeg until well combined. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture slowly until incorporated and the dough has come together. Cover and chill for 15 for 20 minutes.
• For the filling: Tip the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll out into a 16-by-8-inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Pour over the melted butter and, using your hands, spread the butter evenly over the dough. Sprinkle over the cinnamon and then the granulated sugar. Starting with the long edge, carefully roll the dough tightly, just as you would with cinnamon rolls, and pinch the seam together when you reach the end. Cut the log in half. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap, put on a baking sheet and chill until firm, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Unwrap the cookie dough and transfer to a cutting board. With a sharp knife, cut the logs into 1/2-inch pieces. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets and bake until set and the edges begin to brown slightly, 12 to 13 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.
• For the glaze: Meanwhile, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, milk and melted butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add the maple extract and taste. Add more confectioners' sugar or butter as needed; the glaze should be thick but still pourable. Drizzle the glaze back and forth over the cookies and allow to set before serving, 10 to 12 minutes.

BUTTERFLY SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Combine the granulated sugar, butter and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through with a spatula.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
• With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk in 2 batches; mix until the dough comes together.
• Divide the dough in half and flatten each portion into a disk. Place each disk into a separate resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out both pieces of dough until about 1/4 inch thick.
• Using 2 different sized butterfly cookie cutters (2-inch and 3-inch), cut out as many cookies as you can. Use the 2-inch cutter on one portion of dough and the 3-inch cutter on the other portion of dough. Be sure to dip the cutters in flour every other cookie or so while you are cutting them out to prevent the dough from sticking.
• Transfer as many of the cookies as will fit onto the prepared baking sheets and bake until they're just set but not browned, about 7 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then remove to racks to cool completely before decorating. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
• For the icing: Combine the powdered sugar, milk and egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until thick and glossy. Add more powdered sugar if the icing seems too thin. Add more milk if it is too thick. You may need to play with it until it is just right. The icing should be loose enough to stick to the cookies in an even layer, but not too loose to slide off.
• For decorating: Divide the icing among 3 or 4 smaller bowls. Add 2 to 3 drops each of red and orange food coloring to each bowl, scattering it over the surface of the icing. Drag a toothpick through the drops a few times to make swirls.
• Dip the top of each cookie in the icing and let the excess drip off over the bowl. Transfer the dipped cookies to a rack and allow to dry completely. When the colors in the first bowl of icing become too muddled, move on to the next bowl of icing and so forth until all the cookies are iced. Let the icing dry completely, about 1 hour.

WHIMSICAL SWIRL COOKIES - DEE DEE'S

Steps:

• 1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugars and whisk until well blended. Place in large mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
• 2. Add butter in, gradually, and continue mixing. Add in vanilla extract. At this point, your dough will form a ball on your paddle. NOTE: I did find it necessary to add more flour at this point.
• 3. Remove all your dough and divide into two equal parts. Return one portion back in to the mixer and add the food coloring and any extra extracts. I used Wilton gel food coloring in pink and vanilla extract for this batch. You can coordinate your colors and flavors, for example green food coloring matched with a mint extract or yellow with a lemon extract, etc. Also, if you are using liquid food coloring, you will need to add a few tbsp. of flour to keep the dough from becoming too wet. Mix until the color is spread out evenly.
• 4. Roll out each portion of your dough, between two sheets a wax paper until is reaches about 11 x 9 inches and is 1/4 inch thick. Slide both unto a cookie sheet and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. NOTE: I found that the dough became very firm in about 30 minutes.
• 5. When firm, remove the top sheets of wax paper from both. Brush the uncolored vanilla dough lightly with water using a pastry brush. Then flip the colored dough onto the vanilla uncolored dough so they are stacked atop each other and even. Press the edges lightly with your fingertips to seal them together. Using a small paring knife; trim the edges of the dough to make straight, even lines.
• 6. Pour out sprinkles onto a large platter and set aside. Be sure your dough is still cold, but flexible. Once it's ready, begin rolling the long side of dough into a swirl, jelly-roll style. Now, don't get nervous if the outer layer of uncolored dough tears a bit. It's no problem, just pinch and pat those tears and voila, then just keep rolling. NOTE: the outter layer did tear and I pinched it back together as instructed. Cookies turned out beautiful!
• 7. Now gently lift your dough log onto the sprinkles and roll away. Cover the log completely with your sprinkles. Wrap the colorfully decorated log in plastic wrap twice. Depending on when you want to bake the cookies, either place the wrapped dough into refrigerator for about 3-4 hours or you can put it the freezer and keep it there for up to 2 months. (If freezing, give yourself time for the dough to defrost in the fridge overnight before cutting.)
• 8. Slice your dough into 1/4-1/8 inch slices and bake on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes until edges are slightly golden. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, and then move them to a cookie rack to finish cooling. Enjoy your whimsical cookies!

ORANGE MARMALADE MONKEY TAILS - DEE DEE'S

Steps:

• 1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
• 2. Cream butter and sugar, beating well on a medium speed of an electric mixer. Add egg and flavoring; beat well.
• 3. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture. Shape dough into a ball; wrap in plastic and chill for 2 hours.
• 4. While dough is chilling, prepare filling: Combine marmalade, coconut and walnuts; mix well. Store in refrigerator unitl ready to use.
• 5. On floured wax paper, roll chilled dough to a 12 x 9-inch rectangle. Spread filling evenly to within 1/2-inch of the edge of the dough. Carefully roll dough, jellyroll fashion, starting at the long end and peeling wax paper from dough as you roll it. Pinch side seam to seal, leave ends open. Sprinkle 1/2 cups of finely chopped walnuts on wax paper, roll log in walnuts to coat log. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour or until dough is firm enough to slice.
• 6. Unwrap roll, and slice 1/4-inch slices. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.(I used parchment paper in stead of greasing cookie sheet). Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or just until cookies begin to slighly brown aroun the edges. Cool on a wire rack. (using parchment paper, I was able to slice the whole sheet onto the wire rack and cooled the cookies on the parchment paper).
• 7. NOTE: Ovens vary, so watch closely. It took 11 minutes in my oven.