Christmas Swirl Cookies Dee Dees Recipes

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.

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.

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!

Steps:

• 1. 1. On cardboard or paper, draw a Christmas-tree template 10 inches high (from tip of tree to top of trunk) and 10 1/2 inches wide (at base of tree above trunk), with a 1-inch high by 2-inch wide trunk. Cut out template and set aside.
• 2. 2. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until well blended (mixture may look curdled). On waxed paper, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. At low speed, beat in flour mixture just until blended. Pat dough into a small rectangle.
• 3. 3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour large cookie sheet. Place dough in center of cookie sheet. With floured rolling pin, roll dough into 13" by 11" rectangle. Bake 15 minutes.
• 4. 4. Place cookie sheet on wire rack; center tree template lengthwise on warm cookie. With knife, cut around template into cookie; remove template, leaving tree outline. Press floured 1 1/2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter into cookie at top of tree; remove cutter, leaving star outline. Press floured 1-inch round cookie cutters into tree in several places, leaving ornament outlines. Press 2 1/2-inch star cutter into remaining cookie around tree, leaving star outlines.
• 5. 5. Cut Christmas tree into various geometric-shaped puzzle pieces, being careful not to cut into ornament outlines. Cut remaining cookie around tree into puzzle pieces, being careful not to cut into star outlines.
• 6. 6. Return cookie sheet to oven and bake 12 to 14 minutes longer or until cookie is light brown. Set cookie sheet on wire rack; cut through all designs and pieces. Cool cookie puzzle on cookie sheet 10 minutes. Carefully slide puzzle, in 1 piece, onto wire rack; cool completely.
• 7. 7. To decorate: In 1-quart saucepan, heat corn syrup to boiling over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil 1 minute, stirring. Remove round ornament pieces from tree; brush tree and trunk with corn syrup. Sprinkle tree with green sugar crystals to coat, then attach small round yellow candies as desired. Sprinkle or dip trunk into chocolate sprinkles. Brush ornament pieces with corn syrup; sprinkle or dip into choice of colored sugar crystals or decors. Remove star decorations from around tree; brush with corn syrup and sprinkle or dip into yellow sugar crystals. Brush puzzle pieces around tree with corn syrup; sprinkle with blue sugar crystals to coat, then sprinkle lightly with white decors and stars. Reheat corn syrup if it becomes too thick.
• 8. 8. Allow puzzle pieces to dry completely, about 1 hour. When pieces are dry, reassemble puzzle on large tray to serve, or store puzzle in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Mix in egg, vanilla, and salt.
• Mix in flour.
• Make the dough into a ball and cut into two halves.
• Add food coloring to one half of the dough, working it in until evenly mixed.
• On a large cutting board covered in plastic wrap, use a rolling pin to roll out each piece of dough to make two 12x9-inch (30x22-cm) rectangles. Tip: Place wax paper over the dough while rolling to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
• Take the colored dough rectangle and place it over the other regular dough rectangle.
• Use the plastic wrap under the regular dough rectangle to help you roll the two rectangles up.
• Fill a flat dish or baking pan with sprinkles. Roll the dough around it until the outside is completely coated.
• Chill for at least 4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
• Cut the dough into ¼-inch (6-mm) slices and place them on a cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, until blonde.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• For the cookies: Using a stand mixer, cream the shortening, granulated sugar, orange peel and vanilla thoroughly, about 2 minutes. Add in the egg and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 more minute. Add in the milk and mix.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, and then blend into the cream mixture. Divide the dough in half (thirds if you double your recipe), slightly flatten between 2 sheets of waxed paper and refrigerate for 1 hour (or freeze for 20 minutes).
• Roll out the dough 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Transfer the shapes to lightly greased cookie sheets and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• For the egg yolk glaze: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. While the dough is chilling, combine the egg yolk, 1 teaspoon water and food coloring. Paint the cookies (with a soft brush) with the egg yolk glaze.
• Bake the cookies for 6 to 7 minutes. Do not allow the cookies to brown. The cookies will be slightly puffed and the glaze will look crackled. Bake in 2 batches if you don't reroll the scraps.
• For the decorative white icing: While the cookies are baking, mix the powdered sugar, milk and egg whites. Make sure that it is thick and somewhat retains its shape.
• Remove the cookies from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Then, using a pastry bag or zip-top bag, pipe the cookies with the white icing to decorate.

Steps:

• In a saucepan, combine filling ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes stiff, 15-20 minutes. Chill. , For dough, cream butter and sugars in a bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add extract. Combine flour, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the dough to a 12x9-in. rectangle, about 1/4 in. thick. Spread with half of the filling. Roll up, starting with the long end. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Wrap in plastic; chill overnight. , Cut rolls into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.