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Spring Swirl Cookies

It’s SPRING! SPRING. Can we just say it together? Ahhhhhhhhh. For some of you that may be ah-chou! But even if you are battling those pesky allergies I bet you’re still enjoying the fresh air, warm sun, and chirp of the birds once again. Isn’t it funny how we get excited about each new season, but as time moves on the newness wears off and we’re ready to move on again to the next one? Or maybe it’s just me. As we moved from the desert to Europe this fall I truly enjoyed having a winter. The cooler temps, snow, and magic of a wintery Christmas was so refreshing. Not that we didn’t miss Christmas activities with sunblock a little (I kid, I kid) hey, you do you El Paso. But after several months of freezing temps, wet boots at the door, and so much sickness this year, I am welcoming the spring with arms WIDE open. As a family, we can hardly wait to explore Europe in the warm sunshine.

And of course, spring blooms new things and calls for an out with the old spring clean out. There is something so refreshing after a nice organized cleaning project – a fresh start. It doesn’t really matter what it is I’m cleaning I feel so much better after! And with that said…I feel like this is the perfect time to take a look at MBC and talk about this past season and the future of the blog. And I brought cookies. Because what kind of chat would it be without sweets? If you’re new to the blog or just here for the cookies..feel free to skip ahead to the recipe at the bottom!

spring swirl cookies on green

First to answer the question I’ve been getting just about everywhere, social media, email, comments – where are you? For the past year plus I just haven’t been around the blog as much as I would like, or use to be. I find myself struggling to get around just one blog post. In reality there’s been a lot of reasons, first was pregnancy. I’m not a good pregnant person ladies, while I cook up these babies so well it wrecks havoc on my body and I’m basically sick for 9 straight months. It was hard enough just to get three kids to school let alone bake some cookies (that would make me even more sick!). Then there was the new babe! Once the baby came to join us, naturally I was wrapped around her sweet little finger and tending to her every need. Trying to soak up every little squishy moment with my last baby girl. And of course meeting the demands of our new family dynamics. Once things got to a new norm the preparation for the move to Europe began. It was months of purging, cleaning, appointments, planning. Then packing, no furniture, no internet and so on. Once we actually got to Germany it was the same exact thing in reverse order. Living out of a hotel, house hunting, appointments, unpacking, and 2 whole months with no internet. That was painful guys, two whole months. Without my vehicle, without friends, without speaking my host nation’s language, and without the ability to use the wonderful interwebs to search each and everything I was wanting to know. I wish I could say didn’t miss a beat during all of this. That I stuck it through and shared our journey with you guys. And in reality, I can’t even begin to explain to you just how much of a process this was for our family. But I found in this past season I needed to be more present here in our lives and working a whole lot less. I found myself shifting away from social media, blogging, bakings, emails…and all things related. Excuses, excuses, excuses, really because we all know there is always a way right? The truth is my heart just wasn’t in it. Now that things have settled in our lives, and were slowly adjusting to life here in Germany it came time to address the blog – that’s been on the back of my mind just hanging there like a bad breakup. And honestly, kinda a little blog shaped hole in my heart.

There have been moments where I’ve thought maybe it’s time to move on from the blog. Maybe this is now a thing of the past. And there were moments I felt like I really couldn’t blog here from Germany at all. Shipping things here is a pain and sometimes just impossible. My tiny Germany kitchen is just about the worst to bake in – I don’t even know how to work their ovens! Now that I have an almost toddler and three school-aged children they are more active than ever. I’ve spent a lot of time considering where to go or not go with the blog. It’s truly been a source of heartbreak for me because saying goodbye to blogging isn’t about saying goodbye to my work – it’s about saying goodbye to those who I share it with you guys. I have found so much inspiration, encouragement, and strength through my readers over the years. And I just can’t do it. I’m just not ready to let go. The blog has become such a big part of me over the years, I always say it’s my only space where there are no sticky hands and or military orders. So, MCB will move on. Yay! Did I have you worried for a moment?  While I won’t be saying goodbye to the blog I do know, it’s time for the blog to change. Because one of the reasons I’ve found for my lack of blogging is it just isn’t fitting our lifestyle any longer. I like rhythm and routine and I’m not one for changes. But as my life changes, the blog needs to evolve along with! I always meant for the blog to be a creative outlet for me and a source of inspiration for others. So if I’m no longer feeling creative it’s time to shake things up. Unfortunately I’m still kind of figuring out what these changes are going to look like, but one thing is for sure I’m looking for ways to bring the blog back to a fun creative outlet for me, in a new refreshing way that will fit our lifestyle and keep me right here where I belong with you guys. I want to bring to bring things to a more interactive personal level. Are you guys looking forward to new, different content? I’m excited!I may even share some of our Europen travels here…please tell me your thoughts below!

spring swirl cookies

Whew. I feel so much better. But enough of the serious stuff. Can we get right back to spring…and these cookies! This past week my twin girls turned seven, on the first day of spring! Which really had me feeling all the feels because I started this blog just after they were born after committing to staying home with the girls permanently until they were all in school. Just one more little nudge in the direction of getting back to blogging! Now that they are seven and all grown up I left it to them to decide on what to bake for their birthday. Turns out having an awesome treat to share with their class was at the top of their list – as a matter of fact, we didn’t even bake a treat for home this year not even a birthday cake! GASP. After much twin on twin debate with the help of some suggestions from mommy, it was settled. They wanted cookies, BRIGHT cookies, with sprinkles. I reminded them of the spiral cookies we had made in the past and they were sold. But there was one catch. This year they wanted to bake with mommy. These are the type of baking projects I don’t normally take on with the kiddos but they were so excited to bake these cookies I didn’t dare say no. Much to my surprise, they did wonderful this was a pretty kid-friendly treat! Food coloring and all! To make things go a little smoother I measured out all the ingredients prior to them taking over the kitchen. They jumped in an poured each ingredient in the mixer as I read the recipe. Then I split the dough in four add a little color to each ball and let them kneed it out. Next, we sat out to roll 50 small balls of each color, then combined in groups of four, then roll out into the spiral and dip in sprinkles. I really couldn’t believe how much of this they were able to do – and so well I might add! Hmmm, maybe I have some blogging assistants in the near future?

I’m one proud baker babe mama. The colors they picked are just adorable perfect for their first day of spring birthday! I love they picked an old favorite of mine and literally brought new life to it. Now I can’t help but think of new color combinations for more spiral cookies…what do you guys think?

For these cookies I used my sugar cookie recipe you can find here. You can use your own favorite sugar cookie if you would like, but I highly recommend using one that’s made for decorating cookies, one that holds it’s shape well. Of your results will not be the same. <a href=”http://makebakecelebrate.com/lets-talk-about-rolled-sugar-cookies/” target=”_blank”>This recipe</a> made two dozen of these cookies.

For a step by step post on exactly how I made these cookies check out the original here.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

Sugar cookie dough
Pink, blue, yellow, and green gel food coloring (or whatever color you would like)
Sprinkles
Parchment paper
Wax Paper

Step 1: Separate cookie dough into four equal parts.

Step 2: Roll each piece into a ball and create a dent with your thumb, put some food coloring in each. If your wondering about the dent this will help keep the coloring on the dough and not on your hands. As you work the dough press the uncolored dough inside and push, roll, and gently work the dough as it colors from the inside out.

Step 3: Begin to roll each color into grape size balls. Somewhere between nickel size, and quarter size. Take the time and make sure they are fairly similar in size. Not only will this give you a good mix of color it’s going to keep your cookies about the same size. If you’re needing an exact amount like I was for each class, you can roll out each color and divide it into the number of pieces needed first then roll each piece. Example, I divided each color in half, and half again, and again, until I had 24 pieces of each color. You will need one piece of dough color for each cookie you will need.

Step 4: Next take one of each color and very gently roll it together. It will kind of look like a beach ball.

Step 5: After all that rolling I found my dough was getting soft and warm, not good for coiling. So stick them in the freezer for a minute or two. They will chill just a bit and become nice to work with again. About halfway through rolling the balls you may notice they are getting very soft again, just pop them back in the freezer for a moment and you’ll be back rolling. While your waiting set up your workstation. You’ll need a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper to bake on. Some wax paper to work on and sprinkles and a knife nearby. Also, go ahead and preheat the oven to 350.

Step 6: To make the coil start out by gently rolling the ball between your palms and then place on the wax paper. Gently and evenly roll out the dough into a rope about 8 inches long. I do so by first starting to roll it out naturally with my hands facing front and then I turn one hand lengthwise to smooth out the bumps. (make sense?) See how the colors are all kind of straight below? Once your done give each end a gentle roll in the opposite direction to “twist” the rope reveling more colors. Particular I know but you want all the colors to come out.

Step 7: Start out by rolling in one end. If one end is thicker use that one. Now coil up the rest of the dough. I found it was easier to gently pick up the dough and allow it to drop around the center into a coil. Rolling the dough flat on the paper by moving the center around resulted in bumpy cookies. If your end is kind of funky or pinched due to rolling, simply cut off the very end to smooth it out. Now gently pick up the cookie by lifting the wax paper and flipping it onto your hand. Roll the sides into the bowl of sprinkles.

Step 8: Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Make sure to leave room for any spreading, I baked 8 on a sheet at a time. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few moments then gently use a spatula to transfer them to cooling rack.

spring swirl cookies

Heads up! To keep those legal gurus of the world happy, I need to inform you that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. In short – I may earn a small commission from the use of said link with no cost to you! But don’t worry I only link to stuff I use, love, and know you will too!

Image of Toni Miller in front of a sprinkle shelf.

COOKIE DESIGNER

 I’m Toni, the baker, the blogger,  and cookie cutter maker  behind The Sprinkle Factory and I hope you find a sprinkle of inspiration here at The Factory.

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