Rainbow Slice & Bake Cookies
Need a little colour in your life? These slice and bake sugar cookies are the perfect treat. Keep them in the freezer and slice off as many as you want to bake fresh!
KEY DETAILS
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 10 minutes
Chill Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2.5 hours
Special Equipment: electric mixer, rolling pin and cling film
INGREDIENTS
510g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
225g unsalted butter, cold
350g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
Food colouring: red, orange, yellow, green and blue
DIRECTIONS
Combine the flour and the salt in a bowl, set aside.
Combine the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on to medium speed and beat the butter and sugar until combined, but not fluffy. The idea is to combine the ingredients, but not add excess air to the mixture.
Stop the mixer and add one egg and the vanilla, beat to combine. Add the second egg and beat until fully combined.
Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl using a silicone spatula. Add the flour to the mixture and mix on low speed until mostly combined. Leave a few streaks and finish mixing with a spatula.
Now that the dough is made, divide the dough into 6 portions.* Colour your portioned dough with the colours of the rainbow.
Once your dough is coloured, start with the plain dough and make a log. On a lightly floured surface, roll the log out into a rectangle, the key is to make the rectangle wide enough to wrap around the rainbow you will build inside.
Next, grab your blue dough and make a log the same length as the plain dough; no need to roll this one out, just lay it down one side of your plain dough.
Grab the green dough and make a log the same length as the plain dough, then, on a lightly floured surface, slightly roll the log out until it is wide enough to drape over the blue log of dough. Transfer the green dough onto the blue dough and press down the sides. Cut off any excess to make sure your rainbow has a nice shape inside your cookie.
Repeat step 8 for the remaining portions of dough.
After placing the red dough over the orange dough, fold the excess plain dough around the rainbow to seal it inside. Lightly roll the dough to smooth out the sides, not too much where you change the shape of the rainbow!
Wrap the dough in cling film and put into the fridge for 2 hours to firm up.
Once the dough is chilled, pre-heat your oven to 175C and place a piece of parchment paper on a baking tray.
Remove the dough from the fridge and using a serrated or sharp knife, slice the dough log into individual cookies about the thickness of 2x £1 coins stacked together.
Lay the cookies on the prepared baking tray about 2cm apart and bake for 10 minutes until just beginning to colour.
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely before removing from the tray.
TOP TIPS
When you are making the rainbow, make sure your work surface is well floured or your warm dough will stick and rip.
Keep the dough in the freezer for up to 3 months. It will be ready for you to slice off cookies whenever you want them!
