COLORED SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH RECIPES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk the first 4 ingredients. In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar; beat to blend. Beat in the egg and vanilla, then the sour cream. Add the flour mixture; beat on low until just blended. Halve the dough; shape into disks. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees . Roll dough into balls, roll in colored sugar; divide between two large parchment-lined baking sheets. Press slightly to flatten.
• Bake until the bottoms of the cookies are light golden, 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a rack; let cool.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Divide dough into 5 equal parts. Tint each with a different gel food color (red, orange [mix red and yellow], yellow, green, blue), and add 2 tablespoons of the flour to each to keep from becoming overly sticky. (DO NOT EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH AFTER COMBINING WITH FLOUR.)
• On work surface, place 2 pieces cooking parchment paper. Sprinkle a bit of the remaining flour onto 1 of the pieces of parchment paper. Use rolling pin to roll red dough to 8x3x1/4 inch. Transfer this dough to other piece of parchment paper. Repeat with orange, yellow, green and blue pieces of dough, placing each color on top of the other until they are all stacked in rainbow order--red, orange, yellow, green, blue.
• Use sharp knife to cut edges of dough to even out rectangle. Starting at long side of dough, roll up.
• Sprinkle parchment paper with sparkling sugar. Roll dough gently in sugar until coated. Cut into 1/2-inch slices with sharp knife, then press one side of each round into sparkling sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, sugar side up.
• Bake 7 to 10 minutes or just until set. Cool slightly before removing to cooling rack.