Rainbow Cookies
I’m not sure exactly where this recipe came from, but from a very young age these cookies held a sort of mystical deliciousness in my child’s mind. No other sweet tasted nearly as good, and I was always begging my mom to make them. To this day I swear that these are the best sugar cookies, and of course I’m convinced that the rainbow colors make them taste better.
Besides being my all time favorite childhood treat, these cookies are the very first cookies I remember helping my mother bake. I must have been about seven or eight, and I desperately wanted to have a lemonade stand. My mom was always so supportive of my wild projects. She baked the cookies, mixed up a big cooler of lemonade, and helped me set up a table with a sign to advertise the lemonade and rainbow cookies. I only had a handful of customers, but I felt so grown up with the quarters and dollars I ended up bringing home. At the time I believed the cookies were the magical ingredient to my sense of pride and success. Now I realize that the magic of these cookies, as with all food, lives in the love of the cook who not only makes something delicious, but also goes the extra step to make it beautiful, fun, and imaginative.
These cookies are made from a very straightforward dough. My kids help with measuring and mixing, and it comes together quite quickly. However, the tedious part comes with the color mixing, rolling, and layering. To get the most consistent colors throughout, be sure to use gel food coloring. It will keep your dough from becoming too wet, sticky, and difficult to roll. It also doesn’t fade the way conventional food coloring does during baking. Also, while it’s optional, I do definitely recommend using a stand mixer for mixing the six different colors. You can avoid staining your hands and a muscle cramp all at once.
Finally be sure to carefully follow instructions for chilling and warming. The dough cuts much more cleanly when it’s completely cool, so allow it to chill for at least four hours before slicing. Once sliced, the dough is much easier to shape into rainbow arches when it’s a little warm, so allow it to warm up a bit before bending in order to avoid cracked rainbows.
Rainbow Cookies - Makes about 4 Dozen
Equipment:
Stand mixer (optional but recommended)
Bench knife or big knife
2-4 cookie sheets
Rolling pin (optional)
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, & purple gel food coloring
Method:
In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix until completely combined, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda, and mix well with a fork. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture, and mix on medium until all the flour is completely incorporated.
Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface, and use the bench knife to divide it into six equal parts. Color each part with food coloring to make a rainbow of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The easiest way to get consistent colors is to use the stand mixer to mix the coloring into each dough part one at a time.
Once colored, use parchment paper to pat or roll each color of dough into a strip 4 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Each strip should be about the same size and length. Once all the colors are shaped into strips, stack them evenly, one on top of the other, in the order of the colors of a rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). Press down gently to help the colors adhere to one another. Wrap the rainbow stack in parchment, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF, and line the cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Use the bench knife to slice the cold rainbow stack into 1/4 inch slices. Allow the slices to warm up slightly before gently curving each into a rainbow arch. The dough will crack if you try to curve it while it’s too cool.
Space the cookies out an inch or two apart on each prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed and lightly browned on the bottom. Allow the cookies to cool for five minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
