Swirly Halloween Cookies

These would have been so much cuter with Halloween sprinkles on the sides, but my box of sprinkles is packed at the bottom of a sealed packing box. Really, I didn't intend to do any more baking....so they got packed.

(Oh....and my packing? Many of you have asked how it's going......

Does this look organized to you? LOL)

Anyway....back to cooking. All I needed to buy was packaged sugar cookie dough so I decided to bake these yesterday, thinking I still had the sprinkles in the cupboard. Sorry about that. And....I really didn't take (or even have) time to practice getting the swirls just right. But one thing I did learn...chilling the dough in between each step would help a lot. (Never head into the kitchen when your mind is someplace else!)
You can go to Toni's blog, Make Bake Celebrate and see what they're supposed to look like. So much more professional than mine; her swirls are PERFECTION. And she had sprinkles in her pantry. :) You can see her step by step photos too, which are an enormous help... makes it so much easier.
They were fun to make, truly atrocious colors, aren't they? And perfect for Halloween, even if they didn't turn out as great as Toni's. Imagine them with sprinkles all around the outside.
(Am I the only one who feels weird about using colored food gels? And that one swirl really does look black in the cookie, but the photo makes it look brown.)

Swirly Halloween Cookies
From Make Bake Celebrate

Ingredients:
Sugar cookie dough
Orange, black, green, and purple food coloring (use gel...it washes off your hands)
Sprinkles (!!!)
Parchment paper
Wax Paper
Lollipop sticks (optional if you'd like to turn them into cookie pops)

Method:
Step 1: Roll your cookie dough into a ball and then roll into a log.

Step 2: Cut into 4 equal parts. 

Step 3: Roll each piece into a ball and create a dent with your thumb, put some food coloring in each. If your wondering about the dent this will help keep the coloring on the dough and not on your hands. As you work the dough press the uncolored dough inside and push, roll, and gently work the dough as it colors from the inside out. Once you get good enough you won't have a single spot of color on you. (I actually wore plastic gloves.)

Step 4: Begin to roll each color into grape size balls. Somewhere between nickel size, and quarter size. Take the time and make sure they are fairly similar in size. Not only will this give you a good mix of color it's going to keep your cookies about the same size.

Step 5: Next take one of each color and very gently roll it together. It will kind of look like a beach ball.

Step 6: After all that rolling I found my dough was getting soft and warm, not good for coiling. So stick them in the freezer for a minute of two. They will chill just a bit and become nice to work with again. About half way through rolling the balls you may notice they are getting very soft again, just pop them back in the freezer for a moment and you'll be back rolling.
While your waiting set up your work station. You'll need a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to bake on. Some wax paper to work on and sprinkles and a knife near by. Also, go ahead and preheat the oven to 350.

Step 7: To make the coil start out by gently rolling the ball between your palms and then place on the wax paper. Gently and evenly roll out the dough into a rope about 8 inches long. I do so by first starting  to roll it out naturally with my hands facing front and then I turn one hand lengthwise to smooth out the bumps. See how the colors are all kind of straight below? Once your done give each end a gentle roll in the opposite direction to "twist" the rope reveling more colors. Particular I know but you want all the colors to come out.

Step 8: Start out by rolling in one end. If one end is thicker use that one.

Step 9: Now coil up the rest of the dough. I found it was easier to gently pick up the dough and allow it to drop around the center into a coil. Rolling the dough flat on the paper by moving the center around resulted in bumpy cookies. If your end is kind of funky or pinched due to rolling, simply cut off the very end  to smooth it out.

Step 10: Now gently pick up the cookie by lifting the wax paper and flipping it onto your hand. Roll the sides into the bowl of sprinkles. 

Step 11: Place on parchment lines baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. (Don't put them too close together as they spread.)