Spiral Cookies

I was over on SprinkleBakes.com and I absolutely fell in love with these spiraled cookies. You can customize the color and flavor and I think it would be super cute to put them on lollipop sticks so that it is a cookie that resembles those huge suckers we all adored so much. Another thing I love about these is that they are SLICE and BAKE. You could easily put the unused portion in the freezer for later.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups unsifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon strawberry (or other) extract
1/2 teaspoon flaming red gel food coloring or any color of your choice
1 tablespoon unsifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups multi-colored nonpareil decors (Sprinkles!)

INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugars in a food processor and process briefly to mix. Add the butter in pieces; process with on/off bursts until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal. Add the vanilla and process until the mixture just forms a ball. (I didn't really process long enough. My mixture would not really form a ball, so I ended up having to add more butter later.)

Divide the dough into 2 equal portions then return one of the portions to the food processor. Add the strawberry extract, food coloring, and the extra tablespoons of flour to the processor and process until just incorporated.

Roll out each portion of dough between sheets of waxed paper. You want a rectangle about 11 x 8 1/2 inches by 1/8 inch thick. Leave the dough between the sheets of waxed paper and slide onto a baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

Remove dough pieces from refrigerator. Pour the nonpareil decors into a shallow rectangular dish (such as a 9 x 13-inch pan.

Peel off the top sheet of waxed paper from both doughs. Brush the vanilla dough very lightly with water. Using the waxed paper, lift the strawberry dough and flip it onto the vanilla dough so they are stacked. Press with your fingertips to seal the two doughs together. Remove the top sheet of waxed paper and trim the edges even.

When the dough is just pliable (but still cold), roll up the dough rectangles (begin with the long side) like a jellyroll. As you begin to roll, gently curl the edge with your fingertips so you don't get any air pockets as you roll dough into a log. As you roll, lift the waxed paper to help you roll the dough neatly and tightly.

After forming the dough into a log, throw away the waxed paper, and roll the dough back and forth on the work surface to evenly distribute the dough and form a nice little log. Gently lift the log on top of the nonpareil decors in the dish and roll until the log is completely coated with decors. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to slice (from 4 hours to a week, or freeze for up to 2 months; defrost in the refrigerator overnight before slicing).

Adjust rack to lower third of oven and preheat oven to 325°. To bake, slice the log into 1/8- to 1/4-inch-thick cookies and bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 15 to 17 minutes, until the cookies are no longer shiny on top and the bottoms of the vanilla portion are golden.