Lollipop cookies

I made these cookies last week and then again on Sunday but couldn't post anything about them until today because I sent some to my boyfriend and they just got there.

 

I got the idea from a blog that came up on stumbleupon and would really like to give credit to the original poster but I have absolutely no idea what blog it was. So take this as my credit to whoever posted originally. I did not come up with this on my own and I do not claim to take credit for it.

I love these cookies not because they're exceptionally delicious, although they are, but because they are so bright and colorful and make you feel like you're five again. Plus they're not very hard to make.

STEP 1: The dough.

I slaved away for hours finding and making the absolute best sugar cookie dough ever.

AKA...

I got in my car, drove to Harris Teeter and bought two rolls of Pillsbury cookie dough.

STEP 2: Dividing the dough

Because pillsbury sugar cookie dough comes in logs it was pretty easy to divide into five pieces. I put each piece in its own tupperware container for easy coloring.

STEP 3: Coloring

I chose to make mine 5 different colors using Neon food coloring. I had pink, blue, green, purple and orange but really you could make them any color. When I made my boyfriend's batch, I messed up the orange and made a truly awful brown color. So I only used 4 colors on his cookies.

I did come really close to making the brown dough into cookies for two of my boys who are frequently putting the fake poop around the house and blaming it on the dog. I figured they would get a kick out of the unfortunately colored spiral cookies if you know what I mean...

I'm planning on making some green and white spiral cookies for St. Patty's day so stay tuned for those pictures.

STEP 4: The Fridge- Round 1

The key to keeping the colors separate is chilling the dough after everything you do. The more you work with it and touch it and keep it out of the fridge the warmer and stickier it gets. No good.

STEP 5: Miniature planets


Maybe I've been in science education world for too long but my mind jumped to a planet demonstration when I made these little balls.  The balls are each about the size of a grape, although obviously, the fewer colors the bigger the ball, the more colors the smaller the ball. But really, you don't need very much of each color.

 STEP 5: Ever lasting gobstopers

So, apparently I'm not only a science ed nut, I'm a willy wonka nut too. When I took all five balls that I made in step 4 and rolled them into one ball they remind me of ever lasting gobstopers. You want to roll them enough that they stay together but not so much that you end up with a solid brown ball.

Willy Wonka agrees.


STEP 6: The Fridge- Round 2

Back in the fridge for 20 or so minutes to cool down after being shaped.


STEP 7: Rolling

You will definitely see the benefits of letting them chill before moving onto this step. In fact, I would suggest pulling out the flour and lightly flouring the counter and your hands. It makes this step much much easier.

Take one of the now chilled balls and roll it into a snake. Just like you did in elementary when you played with play-doh (or like you still do... cough cough)

We don't want perfectly straight lines, we want a twist. I found that the easiest way to get the twist was to roll it out almost to its full length (or its 1/4 inch thick or so) and then roll one hand forward and one hand backwards.


STEP 8: Rolling rolling rolling continued

Now roll it up in a coil.

When I was little, my parents would usher at church so we could sometimes stand in the back during the service. My favorite thing to do back there was take the long braided ropes that were used to rope off certain pews for special occasions and roll them like this into what I thought of as little rugs. I guess my time rolling church pew cords prepared me for this cookie.

STEP 9: The sprinkles.

Okay, so I struggled with the sprinkles. For my first batch I poured the sprinkles into a bowl and rolled each cookie (very carefully because they were still floppy) until the sides were coated. That method, however, has problems that we'll address in a moment. 

  

STEP 10: Baking

Well... I cheated and used store bought cookie dough... so if you decide to do the same, just follow their directions for this part. 

 

 

Aren't they fun! I tried to skewer one to make a lollipop but they're too thin. Perhaps homemade sugar cookies would have stayed fatter but these were flatter than pancakes. Still soft but very very flat. 

So you may be asking yourself: Self? There seem to be less sprinkles on the cookies than before they went into the oven. Where could they have gotten to?

Okay, so maybe you didn't ask yourself that question, but I did and I also discovered the answer.

They're on the bottom of the cookie. :(

Once again, science education me started thinking about friction and the movement of the cookie as it baked and I have concluded that by putting the sprinkles on the sides of the cookies they get bowled over by the cookie as it bakes. The obvious solution, therefore is to not put the sprinkles on the side but instead put them on the top around the edge. That, however, is really hard to do. So if you come up with a way to add sprinkles just around the perimeter of the circle, let me know. But for now, I give up on sprinkles.

And those are my super fun lollipop cookies! Enjoy!