Spiral Cookies.

These cookies caught my eye as I was browsing for something to make yesterday.  I didn't want to 'cook' as such, but I wanted to 'make' something, if that makes sense.  I thought these would be difficult to make, because, lord knows, I'm shocking when it comes to making pastry or dough, but they were pretty simple.  To boot, they look very pretty, and taste FABULOUS!!  So, onwards ...

Ingredients.


For the Vanilla Dough:

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• Splash of milk, if necessary

For the Chocolate Dough:   

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• Splash of milk, if necessary

Method:

Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until soft and creamy. Add the vanilla, egg, and flour into the creamed mixture and stir until it forms a soft dough. In a separate bowl, make the chocolate dough in the same way. If either dough seems too dry, add a little bit of milk slowly until it comes together.       

Knead each dough separately until smooth, cover in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out both pieces of dough to 10 x 7 inch rectangles. Brush a little milk on the vanilla dough and lay the chocolate dough on top. Press down gently. Roll up from the short side to make a spiral log. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the roll into about ¾ inch slices, arrange 1½ inches apart on parchment-lined cookies sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies should spring back when touched lightly with a finger.

My Notes - Although I was impressed with how these cookies looked and tasted, I did find it a little bit too much, just in terms of how much time it takes when you consider that an hour is spent sitting around waiting for the dough to chill.  I do understand though that the dough does need to chill, and I found that it can be a little sticky in places when rolling it out, so care does need to be taken.

However, all being said, they smelled lovely when they were cooking, and looked GREAT when they came out of the Oven.    My Official Taste Tester (Andy) tried them and said they rocked, and both myself and the hubby were very impressed too.  Two thumbs up for these cookies!

Till next time, keep on cookin'!