Cutout Cookie Dough

This recipe was actually meant so that you could make Christmas trees that look like they have garland and ornaments, however I got way too busy during the holidays to try this back then. Hence I made it into an Easter recipe......if using a different cookie cutter and different colors qualifies as a new recipe...

This was a really fun recipe to do and turned out perfectly. I made these as a treat for my co-workers who are suffering through tax season right now. We need all the sugar we can get! The recipe made more than 2 dozen decent-size cookies and they were gone within 2 days. We only have 9 people at our office. Yeah, tax season makes you want to eat constantly.

One thing the recipe doesn't tell you to is what to do with the leftover dough. Usually you just roll it back together and cut out some more shapes. That doesn't really work when you have colored dough, but I did it anyway. :-) I ended up with some psychedelic butterflies and flowers that didn't look too shabby, but just be forewarned: use as much of the dough on the first roll-out as you can. Place those cookie cutters carefully!

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for work surface
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• food coloring

Whisk together flour and salt. In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium high until pale and fluffy, 4 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and beat until combined. Tint dough by mixing in food coloring: for trees, tint 2/3 the dough green, tint some of the remaining dough red and some yellow; leave some plain. Divide green dough into 2 disks. Individually wrap all dough in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 3 days).

On a large sheet of parchment paper, lightly flour both sides of 1 disk of green dough, cover with more parchment, and roll out to about 1/8 inch thick. Repeat with second disk. Remove top sheets of parchment.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll pieces of red dough into thin snakes. Arrange on top of green dough in desired pattern (if dough gets too soft to work with, refrigerate 10 minutes).

Roll yellow and plain dough into peas-size balls and arrange on top of green dough in desired pattern.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Top dough with more parchment and gently roll over dough until decorative pieces are flush with green dough.

Carefully remove top sheets of parchment. With a 4 to 5 inch tall tree shaped cutter, cut dough. Transfer dough on parchment to baking sheets and freeze till firm, 15 minutes.

Remove cutouts from excess dough and transfer to newly lined baking sheets. Bake until set, 12 minutes. Let cool on wire racks (store in airtight container, up to 1 week).

NOTES: The embellishments (garland, ornaments, stripes, whatever) should be pretty skinny. I should have made my Easter egg stripes a bit smaller because when they got smashed together they really expand and sort of take up the entire egg. I also will definitely be using parchment/wax paper when rolling out cookie dough in the future. It really cuts down on the mess and helps keep the rolling pin from sticking to the dough.

Serves: 2-3 dozen, depending on size and thickness of cookies
Prep Time: 30 min
Total Time: 2 hr

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living