The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2015 ~ Christmas Swirl Sugar Cookies

This is my second year as a participant in the 5th annual The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.   From across the United States and 5 other countries 467 Food Bloggers participated this year raising $1,790.44 for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.  These great sponsors matched all of our donations bringing it to $7,000 raised, so a big thank you to OXO, Dixie Crystals, and Land O Lakes.   OXO sent everyone who participated an 7 piece set of liquid measuring cups and a silicone baking sheet from Dixie Crystals which was perfect for baking my Christmas Swirl Sugar cookies.  The way it works each blogger sent out 3 batches of home baked cookies and received 3 batches of cookies from other bloggers in return.  Not only did I get boxes of homemade cookies delivered to my door, but I also got to support Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

I packaged 1 dozen of my Christmas Swirl Sugar cookies in cute tins and sent to 3 bloggers.  Whole and Heavenly Oven from Wisconsin, Micky What Micky Eats from Washington DC and The Full Tummy from California.   All three have created some great blogs with interesting recipes, you should check them out!

The first batch I received was from LeAndra at Love & Flour she sent Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies.  The next batch I received was from Take Two Tapas.  They sent yummy cookies packed in a cute tin!  My third and last batch was from Alicia at The Baker Upstairs.  Her melt in you mouth Honey Lavender Shortbread cookies were amazing!  Check our their blogs and get the recipes for the cookies they baked for the cookie swap.

Here is the recipe for the cookies I baked for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

Christmas Swirl Sugar Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1¼ cup sugar
1 egg
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
3 cups of flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
Non-pareils for decorating
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined.
Divide dough into three equal parts. Put one into the mixer bowl and with your finger make an indentation and add at least 8 drops of red food coloring. Turn on mixer and mix until the dough is all red. Wipe out bowl and add the second piece of dough and doing the same but in the indentation add green food coloring, mix until solid green. Add more food coloring if you desire a deeper color. Leave remaining dough as is. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.
On a piece of parchment paper about 18-inches long place one of the balls of dough. Place a second piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. With a rolling pin roll out dough until flat and about 1/8” thick. Do this with each of the two remaining pieces of dough until you have all three colors rolled out about the same size on parchment paper.
Carefully take the red dough and flip on top of the plain dough. Then take the green dough and flip on to the red dough. You should now have all three doughs stacked on top of each other.
Get a knife or pizza cutter and trim the edges so all sides are square. Set scrap pieces aside*. Once it is trimmed turn the dough so the long side is facing you and roll it up. Wrap in a piece of parchment paper folding ends over to keep from drying out. Place in the refrigerator until hard, about 1 hour. Once it is ready unroll from paper and using a sharp knife cut the dough in ¼-inch slices. Next roll the edges in the non- pareils. I found that if the outside dough is too dry they will not stick. Just dip your finger in some water and go around the edge to wet it and then roll into the non-pareils.
Place on a baking sheet that has been covered with a silpat or parchment paper. This will give the cookies a nice bottom. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes and turn the pan 180 degrees and bake another 2 minutes. The cookies should be light brown on the bottom and no brown on top. You will need to adjust the time to your oven’s temperature. Remove baking sheet from oven and place on wire rack for two minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheet and place on wire rack to cool completely.
*You will have pieces of dough scraps left after trimming. Just mix them up together slightly and roll into log and you can slice like the other cookie but you will have a marbled cookie instead of a swirl.