Rainbow Swirl Cookies

Note that the dough requires at least 2 hours of refrigeration. So plan ahead.

In a large bowl using a mixer or in a food processor, cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and cream until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until well combined.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces (or however many colours you would like your cookies to be) and tint each a different colour. I use the food processor for this as I find it the fastest way to mix in the colour. Just place the piece of dough in the food processor and mix in a few drops of gel paste food colouring until it’s well combined, adding more food colouring if the colour isn’t as bright as you would like. Repeat for the other pieces of cookie dough. Tightly wrap each piece of coloured dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Divide each colour into 30 small pieces. Then take one piece of each colour and roll them together into a ball. Roll the multi-coloured ball into a snake, about 14 inches (35cm) long and about half an inch (1.5cm) thick. Then roll up the snake into a swirl and place it on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, placing cookies about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for 5-7 days at room temperature.

Notes:
This dough needs to be chilled before shaping into the cookies for at least two hours, or overnight. Also, if you find it’s getting too soft while you’re forming the cookies, you can stick it back in the fridge to firm up a bit, and then continue shaping them.

Adapted from Play Dough Cookies on Allrecipes.com.