Christmas Swirl Sugar Cookies

I know it is past Christmas and it is the new year... I should wait until next December to blog about these yummy cookies....But I figure you could use these for Easter, Halloween or any Holiday.... I love sugar cookies especially with lots of frosting... frosting really should be it's own food group.... I was searching for some cookies to give out as gifts to the nursery class I teach.  I came across this Blog and knew I had try these cookies. 

At some point I may actually take step by step pictures of the things I make (don't worry the lady I got the idea from has a step by step process). I almost always forget to take pictures (doh). I did snap this picture though.

I used a sugar cookie recipe from a recipe book called  "Christmas Cookies By Gooseberry Patch.". I love finding new Christmas cookies in the book each year...

Buttermilk Sugar Cookies
2 c. sugar
2 c, shorting
4 eggs
1 T. vanilla extract
2 c. buttermilk
6 c. flour
1 T. plus 1 t baking powder
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Mix sugar, shorting and eggs; add vanilla and buttermilk and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt stir into the sugar mixture. Add more flour as needed to make a firm dough. Chill for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

After making the dough I separated the dough into three sections and added green to one section, red dye to another and left one plain..I wish I had gotten a picture of us mixing the color with the dough. Because of the recipe I was using the dough was super sticky and mixing it with my hands was a no go. I then used the hand mixer which worked... but the dough clumped all the way to the top of the mixing utensils. I really need to invest in a bosch (hint... hint..Bryce). When it was all said and done the dough looked beautiful.

I refrigerated the dough for a few hours and then layered it and rolled it together and refrigerated it again.
I started to cut them with a knife and then my friend stopped me and said use floss...it worked so much better. With the left over dough  (the odds and ends). I rolled it out and used a bell shaped cookie cutter to cut the dough. (I made these ones for the kids to decorate).

I had tons of cookies and bagged them in groups of three and tied it with ribbon. They looked so cute. I made enough for the kids to take a bag home and each of the other teachers. We sometimes have five kids and other times fifteen. So I made twenty cute little bags. And Guess what? Only five kids and one teacher showed up..The Kids that were there enjoyed frosting and decorating the cookies. One of the three year old's frosted and ate three cookies..(whoops). I sent all the extras home with the other teacher.

Special thanks to my friend Stephanie for letting me use her kitchen while our husbands played video games. One day I will have all the fun kitchen stuff she has.

In case you were wondering the dough and the cookies were tasty!