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With this sugar cookie recipe, I really couldn’t help myself! My kids and I love making sugar cookies but I did want to try something a little different. Making rainbow sugar cookies ended up being much easier than I thought and only added a couple of extra steps to my normal sugar cookie baking routine.
First off, here’s what you need:
1 Recipe of The Best Sugar Cookies Ever
Food Coloring (I use Wilton Food Coloring Gels)
5 Small Bowls
Plastic gloves (optional)
Parchment Paper
Cookie Sheet
Sharp Knife
Next, follow the directions to making The Best Sugar Cookies Ever. My boys LOVE making the dough with me. And we may all steal a pinch or two of the dough. It’s to good to pass up. They are usually pretty good at sharing the beater too.
Once you have made up your batch of The Best Sugar Cookies Ever, put all of the dough together on a floured surface.
Split the dough into five sections and put each section in a separate bowl. Make an indentation in the middle of each section of dough.
If you are using food coloring drops, drip in a couple of drops in the middle indentations, more according to how dark you would like the color. I was using food coloring gel so used a toothpick or small spoon to add the food coloring. The gel is pretty think. Once you have added the food coloring, mix the dough. It seems a little hard at first, but it will start to mix. Don’t give up! You can use your hands (be sure to use plastic bags though and a new pair for each color), or get in there with a spoon.
It looks really strange once you have them mixed together! Next, take each color and roll them each out into a rope. Mine were about 10 inches long.
Put the 5 ropes together, 3 on top and 2 on bottom. Then, twist them with one hand going forward and the other rolling backward.
It may look like some of the pieces are coming apart but don’t worry about it. Once the dough is twisted, wrap it in parchment or wax paper. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Once the dough has been refrigerated, unwrap the dough. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/2″ sections (if you want thinner cookies, cut them more thinly). They will get squished a little, but that’s okay! Place them on bake sheets and reshape into a circle if any of them are more misshapen.
Bake according to the recipe directions. The cookies do bake a little on the sheet when you remove them. These are supposed to be soft cookies and are done when they are slightly golden around edges (which can be hard to see because of the coloring but do the best you can). Once they are cooled, you have made some fun cookies that are good enough to stand alone. Yep, don’t worry about the frosting!
My little family of four went through one batch in about three days. The recipe makes about 3 dozen. We didn’t worry about our diet those days! These cookies would be great for rainbow parties, St Patrick’s Day, preschool, or just for fun.