Raspberry Swirl Sugar Cookies
These raspberry swirl sugar cookies are the perfect combination of sweet, vanilla cookie dough and tangy raspberry cookie dough, all rolled up into a beautiful spiral and baked to perfection. They’re everything you could want from a sugar cookie: buttery, sugary, soft… yet with a delicious raspberry twist!
All you have to do is make one dough, split it in half, and add freeze-dried raspberry powder to one of those halves (as well as some red food coloring if you want the dough to be as striking as mine). Freeze-dried raspberries may seem a weird addition, but actually fresh raspberries will just make your dough wet. Make sure to buy freeze-dried raspberries without added preservatives (Trader Joe’s has them).
Then, you chill the two doughs separately in the fridge for at least 30 minutes until cold. Roll out each dough to an 8″ x 14″ rectangle, making sure to do this on plastic wrap! This will make it way easier to transfer the dough and roll it up tightly. Once you have both rectangles rolled out, hold onto the plastic wrap and flip the red rectangle on top of the white rectangle. Remove the plastic wrap on top of the red, and then use the plastic wrap that is below the white cookie dough to help you roll the cookie dough, starting from the short side, tightly! Then wrap the log tightly and chill again.
After about 30 minutes, take the log out and cut it into 1/2″ slices. Then, guess what you have to do? Chill again! Finally, you then lay out the cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350ºF.
Seems complicated, but is actually easy and incredibly impressive!
Check out some of my other dessert recipes, including all of these fun cookies: cinnamon swirl cookies, brown butter chocolate chip cookies, homemade rugelach, and lemon crinkle cookies!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 cups all purpose flour, divided in half
- 1/4 cup freeze dried raspberries, grinded or blitzed into a powder
- 1 tsp red gel food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Start by browning your butter. In a small saucepan, heat your butter over medium-high heat for about 7-10 minutes. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, waiting to see little brown flecks floating around in the butter. As soon as you see them, pour the butter into a heat-proof bowl and let it cool until it starts re-solidifying and getting cloudy, about 20-30 minutes.
- I do these next steps by hand, but feel free to use a mixer! Whisk in the granulated sugar for about 2 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, then the salt, baking powder, and vanilla extract.
- Divide the mixture between two bowls. Into one bowl, just add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix (this makes your white cookie dough). In the other bowl, add 1 1/2 cups flour, the raspberry powder, and the optional food coloring.
- Once your cookie doughs are mixed, wrap them separately in plastic wrap (if you shape them as rectangles roughly 4″ x 6″ in this step it’ll help you roll them out) and chill in the fridge for 30 mins to 4 hours.
- After the doughs chill, carefully unwrap them but keep them on the plastic wrap. Roll them out to 8″ by 14″ rectangles (roughly)and cut off any excess.
- Carefully, use the plastic wrap under the red cookie dough to flip it on top of the white cookie dough, and remove the plastic wrap that is now on top. Then, use the plastic wrap under the white cookie dough to help you roll the log (starting from the short end) tightly. Wrap it back up in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- After the second chill, take out the log and cut it into 1/2″ slices. Then, chill again for 30 minutes! It may seem redundant, but this ensures neat cookies that don’t spread too much in the oven.
- Finally, preheat your oven to 350ºF and lay out your cookies at least 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, they should be soft and lightly golden on the bottoms. Let them cool then enjoy! These make perfect holiday gifts.
Raspberry Swirl Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 cups all purpose flour divided in half
- 1/4 cup freeze-dried raspberries grinded or blitzed into a powder
- 1 tsp red gel food coloring optional
Instructions
- Start by browning your butter. In a small saucepan, heat your butter over medium-high heat for about 7-10 minutes. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, waiting to see little brown flecks floating around in the butter. As soon as you see them, pour the butter into a heat-proof bowl and let it cool until it starts re-solidifying and getting cloudy, about 20-30 minutes.
- I do these next steps by hand, but feel free to use a mixer! Whisk in the granulated sugar for about 2 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, then the salt, baking powder, and vanilla extract.
- Divide the mixture between two bowls. Into one bowl, just add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix (this makes your white cookie dough). In the other bowl, add 1 1/2 cups flour, the raspberry powder, and the optional food coloring.
- Once your cookie doughs are mixed, wrap them separately in plastic wrap (if you shape them as rectangles roughly 4" x 6" in this step it'll help you roll them out) and chill in the fridge for 30 mins to 4 hours.
- After the doughs chill, carefully unwrap them but keep them on the plastic wrap. Roll them out to 8" by 14" rectangles (roughly)and cut off any excess.
- Carefully, use the plastic wrap under the red cookie dough to flip it on top of the white cookie dough, and remove the plastic wrap that is now on top. Then, use the plastic wrap under the white cookie dough to help you roll the log (starting from the short end) tightly. Wrap it back up in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- After the second chill, take out the log and cut it into 1/2" slices. Then, chill again for 30 minutes! It may seem redundant, but this ensures neat cookies that don't spread too much in the oven.
- Finally, preheat your oven to 350ºF and lay out your cookies at least 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, they should be soft and lightly golden on the bottoms. Let them cool then enjoy! These make perfect holiday gifts.