Sugar Swirl Cookies

These delicious and fun cookies are sure to please everyone! I found this idea on Pinterest, my favorite site for inspiration. So the moment I saw these yesterday I knew I needed to make them. So happy I did, because they are wonderful. As an added bonus there is no eggs in the dough, so you don't need to feel guilty about having a few sample tastes.

So lets jump in!

Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour (plus a little extra in case dough is too moist)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2/3 cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
2 1/2 Sticks Butter, cut into 1 tbsp chunks (I used unsalted butter, either will work)
1 tsp Vanilla
Food coloring of your choice (I used neon blue by McCormick 10 drops)
2.1 oz Nonpareils Galaxy Sprinkles by Cake Mate (Or about 1 cup of the long thin sprinkles)

Directions:
1. In large bowl, combine flour, 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt and both sugars with a whisk or spoon until well blended.
2. Add butter in gradually. (I melted my butter for about 30 seconds and started mixing it in with a rubber spatula) Add vanilla extract. At this point, your dough will form into  ball on your paddle. Never fear if it doesn't all you need to do is add a little more flour a tbsp at a time till it forms into a nice ball.
3. Divide dough into two equal parts. With one half of the dough add your food coloring and mix until evenly spread throughout the dough.
4. Roll out each portion of your dough onto plastic freezer paper or wax paper until it reaches about 11 x 9 inches and is 1/4 inch thick. Place both sheets into the fridge for at least 2 hours to be easily manageable. If you would like a quicker version, place in the fridge for 30 min and then in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes before handling.
5. When firm, remove the wax paper. Brush uncolored dough lightly with water on one side to promote sticking and gently stack on top of colored dough. Try to stack them as evenly as possible.
6. Now that your dough is stacked, begin to roll the dough so you finish with a log of cookie dough. Don't worry if the dough tears along the way, just pinch and pat the dough back together. The slower you go the less tears you will have. I used my rubber spatula to help lift the dough so I could roll it easily.
7. Now it is time for a lot of fun...the sprinkles. Pour out your sprinkles onto a large platter and gently roll your dough log onto the sprinkles. Attempt to cover the dough completely.
8. Now you need to wrap your sprinkled covered dough log in plastic wrap. The original recipe called for the dough to sit another 3-4 hours in the fridge, but as you will learn, I am not that patient of a person. So I let it sit in the freezer for 20-25 minutes. When I took it out of the freezer it was solid and great for cutting.
9. Now cut your dough into 1/4 inch thick cookie slices and marvel at your beautiful swirl. Place cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet and cook for 14 min at 350 degrees. You will want to take them out just before they start turning brown. My first batch was in the oven for about 16 minutes, they still tasted delicious but they didn't look as pretty as the second and third.
10. Take cookies off of cookie sheet and place on cooling rack and enjoy!
Yields around 55 cookies.

The finished product!

Hoping you had fun cooking with me and my Close Enough Cooking techniques!

Happy Cooking All!