Watermelon Cookies

Yesterday my neice helped me create these adorable watermelon cookies. What these are, in all truth, are glorified sugar cookies. They are a little easier than your typical cut out sugar cookie- these are a roll, meaning that you form the dough into a log and cut it into slices once it has firmed in the refrigerator. I'm not gonna lie, it does take a little extra effort, but not as much as you would think looking at these cuties. Let me explain. . .

First you make a batch of sugar cookie dough (or your could use the store bought variety instead). I used my favorite recipe straight from Martha Stewart herself. I realize she has many recipes for sugar cookies, but this one I have used throughout the years and it never fails to give me perfectly yummy cookies. Here it is.

Sugar Cookies

2 sticks butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs (at room temperature)

1 Tablespoon vanilla or almond extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 cups all purpose flour

(For this recipe I substituted almond extract and added an additional 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to brighten the flavor.)

Cream together your butter and sugar, then add your eggs until fully incorporated. Mix in your salt, baking powder and flour, mixing only enough to incorporate the flour (or your dough will be too tough). Once your cookies are cut out, place them on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes at 325 degrees F, (or until slightly golden around the edges). Baking time will depend on the thickness of your cookie.

Once you have made your dough, divide it in half. Take one half and tint it pink and set it aside. Divide the other half in half again, and tint one portion lime green and the other portion dark green.

Now, roll out the dark green in between two pieces of wax paper, and form it into a 10"x 6" rectangle. Place it in the refrigerator to firm up. Roll the lime green dough into a rectangle of the same size and then place that in the fridge to firm up. After about 10 minutes, carefully peel off one layer of wax paper off  of the lime dough and lay it exactly on top of the dark green dough.

Take your pink dough and roll it into a log and place it in the center of the green rectangle of dough. Enclose the pink dough with the green doughs, wrap this with wax paper, and place the dough log in the fridge to harden. You want the log to be very flat on one side and rounded on the other, in a semi-circle.

 

This is what you want your cookie douigh log to look like. Once it has hardened, you can peel off the wax paper, and cut it into slices of your preferred thickness. Then, cut the green section of the flat end off to give the look of a watermelon slice.

For a finishing touch, you can add some black seed sprinkles to the top. I found these at my cake decorating headquarters, ABC Cake Decorating in Phoenix.

This recipe makes about 20 really thick cookies or more depending on how you cut them. I like to under-bake them a little so that they are lightly crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. My husband likes them over-baked so they are crisp and crunchy. Either way they are delicous!

Thanks to my beautiful neice Alissa for the help in creating these sweet treats! I love the common bond we share for creative baking! ox