Rainbow Cookies {Slice and Bake}

Sometimes, in the middle of cold and flu season, I wonder if the feds are going to come and knock down my front door. They will take me away and interrogate me for my extra large purchases of Sudafed and search my house in hopes of finding my meth lab.

You know, the one I keep in my basement?

Just kidding, I don't have a basement.

Ever since they started carding for the little red miracle pills, I feel a little like a druggie every time I go to the pharmacy.

"Can I have the generic Sudafed please? A 96?" I ask.

"We're out of 96," replies the pharmacist.

"Okay, then two 48's?" I inquire, discreetly sliding my driver's license across the counter like I'm expecting to be slipped a little white packet or something.

I think I've bought Sudafed at least four or five times just this school year so far. And, with the way things are going, I anticipate needing to buy it a few more times before summer. (You all remember how I pop the little red pills at the first hint of stuffiness, to ward of ear infections, right? That I'm really not an addict?)

The problem is that they only let you buy two packages. Only one if it's the 96-pack. You can buy two 48-packs. But the thing I don't understand? They won't let you buy four 24-packs. Um, what's the difference between if I buy one 96 or four 24's? Oh well, no one ever said our government had common sense.

How does that relate to these cookies? It doesn't. It's just that I'm kinda in the middle of a Sudafed-fever-induced fog and couldn't thing of anything glittery and rainbowey with a side of unicorns to write about.

Have I mentioned my kid is a horrible sharer? Unless it's germs. Then she gives them away freely.

I made these cookies for Jordan's birthday party, but they would be perfect for St. Patrick's Day. Now, they take a little work but the overall product is totally worth it.

I swear, I think these are the best tasting (flavor and texture) sugar cookies I've ever eaten. The dough is a bitch to work with, it's very sticky and kinda gets everywhere, but you'll thank me, I promise. They are that good.

The secret is to freeze the dough before slicing. And then you freeze them again before baking, to reduce spreading.

I made clouds for some of my cookies. I dyed the batter white and rolled up little balls to place at the ends of the rainbow.

I also bent the rainbows a little to go with the clouds. They looked better that way.

Bake them, and try not to eat the whole batch. These are some seriously addictive cookies.

Kind of like Sudafed.

Rainbow Slice and Bake Cookies

by Crazy for Crust

Recipe from Good Life Eats

6018681

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups unsalted butter (4 ½ sticks)
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 6 cups flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• Gel food colorings: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and white (if you do not wish to have clouds, you can skip the white)

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Combine butter and sugar in a stand mixer and beat well, for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks, mixing until combined. Stir in vanilla and almond extract.
3. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, about 1 cup at a time, stirring with the paddle attachment to incorporate. Dough will be sticky.
4. If you want clouds, separate ¼ of the dough into a separate bowl and color it white. Then equally divide the rest of the batter into six separate piles. (If you are not making clouds, just divide it into six portions from the beginning.)
5. Color each of the six portions of dough a different color, one for each color of the rainbow. I did this by using a hand mixer and rinsing the beaters and the bowl in between each color. Wrap each color individually in plastic wrap and chill for about a half an hour.
6. Working with one dough at a time, place each color between two sheets of wax paper and roll into a large rectangle. (The dough will still be pretty sticky at this point.) Once you have 6 flat rectangles of dough (each between two sheets of wax paper), chill them until they are firm, at least an hour.
7. Remove from refrigerator. Place the purple layer on a new sheet of waxed paper. Layer the colors: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until very firm.
8. If you are making clouds: roll the white portion into small balls and chill.
9. When you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 350°. Remove dough from freezer and slice strips across the shorter side about ¼ inch thick and then cut each strip in half (or desired size). Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze again to minimize spreading while baking. (This dough softens up very quickly.)
10. If you want clouds, place a white ball at each end of the rainbow (I “bent” my rainbows a little before attaching the clouds) and press to resemble clouds. I didn't have enough clouds for the entire batch, but that was fine. I ended up with about 24 cloud rainbows and the rest were plain.
11. Bake for 6-10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Serve with smiles and green milk for St. Patrick’s Day!

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