Slice and bake sugar cookies with a surprise design in the center!
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword eggless, gluten free, shortbread, valentine's day
Prep Time 25 minutesmins
Cook Time 20 minutesmins
Chill Time 2 hourshrs
Total Time 2 hourshrs45 minutesmins
Servings 12cookies
Author Taleen Benson
Ingredients
2 cups (296g)gluten free flour blend
½teaspoonsalt
1cup (226g)unsalted butterroom temperature
2ouncescream cheeseroom temperature
1cup (200g)granulated sugar
1teaspoonvanilla extract
gel food coloring
Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. Set aside.
Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine. Gradually add the flour mix in, beating on low speed until cookie dough forms.
Separate out ⅓ of the cookie dough and place in a separate bowl. Use gel food coloring to tint this portion of dough until desired color is achieved. Transfer tinted dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and roll to about 1" thick. Use a small cookie cutter to cut out shapes, re-rolling scraps until all of the tinted dough is used up.
Gently stack the shapes on top of one another, then place on its side to form a log. Set aside.
Transfer the rest of the cookie dough onto a clean piece of parchment paper. Roll out dough to about 1" thick. Slice into 4-5 large strips.
Place the tinted log of dough right on top of one of the strips of the plain dough. Use your hands to gently place the strips all around, covering the tinted dough completely, but try to keep the shapes in tact. Wrap cookie dough tightly in cling wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove dough from the refrigerator and slice into ½ in. slices. Arrange on prepared baking sheet, about an inch apart, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely before removing from baking sheet.
Notes
If the dough is too soft to work with, chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes AFTER rolling but BEFORE cutting into shapes.
I highly recommend gel food coloring over liquid, which is less potent, so you will end up needing a lot more of it for a deep color.