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Rainbow Sugar Cookies

Chewy sugar cookies flavored with lemon, lime, blueberry and raspberry colored to look like a rainbow swirl.
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 12 large cookies

Ingredients

  • 226g or 1 cup g unsalted butter softened
  • 350g or 1 ¾ cups g granulated sugar
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 large egg plus 1 yolk
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 365g or 2 ½ cups g all purpose flour
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • 1 ½ tablespoons raspberry or strawberry powder from ground up freeze dried berries
  • 1 ½ tablespoons blueberry powder from ground up freeze dried blueberries
  • 1 tsp lemon extract

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar, soda, salt and vanilla. Beat until the butter and sugar is thoroughly creamed, it should be light and fluffy.
  • Add the egg and yolk and beat for another 60 seconds.
  • Add the flour and mix until the dough is well combined.
  • Set out 5 bowls. Weigh your dough - it should be around 1,000g. Divide it into 200g per bowl.
  • Into the first bowl add 1 tablespoon of raspberry (or strawberry powder) and a couple of drops of red food coloring. To get it to blend into the dough you can start with a rubber spatula or spoon but you’ll want to use your hands to squish it together and ‘knead’ to get the color and powder to distribute evenly.
  • Into the second bowl add the zest of the lemon and some yellow or orange-yellow food coloring, as well as a ¼ tsp lemon extract. Mix it in well.
  • Into the third bowl add the lime zest, some green gel food coloring and ¼ tsp lemon extract. Mix.
  • Into the fourth bowl add 1 tablespoon of the blueberry powder and some blue food gel. Mix.
  • Into the fifth bowl add ½ tablespoon of blueberry powder and ½ tablespoon of raspberry (or strawberry) powder as well as a couple of drops of purple food coloring. Mix.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Set out two greased cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
  • Start with the red, divide it into two teaspoons per cookie (you should have about 12 portions). Next divide the yellow and set each 2 teaspoons next to the red.
  • Repeat this with all the dough colors, curving so each dough makes a circle (see photos and video) and placing the purple between the blue and red (or pink).
  • You’ll have 12 cookies with 5 colors of dough.
  • Place about ¼ cup of granulated sugar and a pinch of salt in a small bowl.
  • Take each clump of dough and gently squeeze it together to form a ball. Place it in between your palms and roll it to smush the dough together into one dough ball and swirl the colors together, about the size of a golf ball. Dip it face down in the sugar then set on the cookie sheet.
  • Repeat with all the cookies. Bake no more than 6 cookies on a cookie sheet, leaving space for them to spread - these are big cookies!
  • Bake for 14-15 minutes, until the edges are golden and the middles have started to crack a bit.
  • The cookies can cool on the pan, to keep them from drying out place them in an airtight container overnight.

Video

Notes

Inspired and adapted from Sarah Kieffer’s Neapolitan Cookies.