Gingerbread Pinwheel Cookies

Gingerbread Pinwheel cookies:
Outstanding
Notes: This cookie is a spin on traditional pinwheels, in which plain and chocolate doughs are swirled together. Store cookies airtight at room temperature up to 3 days; freeze to store longer.
Yield: Makes about 50 cookies
Ingredients
· For gingerbread dough:
· 3/4 cup (3/8 lb.) butter, at room temperature
· 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
· 1/4 cup light or dark molasses
· 2 large egg yolks
· 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
· 2 teaspoons ground ginger
· 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
· 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
· 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· For plain dough:
· 1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter, at room temperature
· 1 cup granulated sugar
· 1 large egg
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· 3 cups all-purpose flour
· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
1. Make gingerbread dough: In a bowl, with a mixer on high speed, beat butter, brown sugar, and molasses until smooth. Beat in egg yolks until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. In another bowl, mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended. Wrap dough in plastic and flatten slightly; chill until firm but pliable, about 1 hour (or freeze for 30 minutes).
Make plain dough: In a bowl, with a mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended. Wrap dough in plastic and flatten slightly; chill as directed above.
2. With a lightly floured rolling pin on a lightly floured sheet of waxed paper, roll out gingerbread dough into an approximately 12- by 15-inch rectangle. Slide dough, on waxed paper, onto a 12- by 15-inch baking sheet. Repeat to roll out plain dough and chill both doughs until slightly firmer, about 10 minutes.
3. Carefully invert gingerbread dough over the plain dough, lining up edges as evenly as possible. Remove waxed paper from top of gingerbread dough. With a sharp knife, cut rectangle in half lengthwise to make two 6- by 15-inch rectangles. Transfer one of the rectangles to another sheet of waxed paper. Let stand about 10 minutes to soften slightly.
4. Starting at long edge of one rectangle, lift waxed paper to roll doughs into a tight, even cylinder. Repeat to roll other rectangle. Wrap rolls in plastic; freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
5. Unwrap rolls and slice crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Lay cookies flat, 1 inch apart, on buttered 12- by 17-inch baking sheets.
6. Bake cookies in a 325° regular or convection oven until edges just begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. If baking multiple sheets in one oven, switch positions halfway through baking. Transfer pinwheels to racks to cool.

Best Sugar Cookies

The Best Sugar Cookies EVER!
(recipes and more)
These are perfect!
SOFT, but don't crumble when you frost them, not to mention super delish...

Amanda's Amazing Sugar Cookies II
(pwrecipes)
1 1/2 cups butter
2 c. sugar
2 whole eggs
2 yolks
2 t. almond extract
4 t. vanilla extract
4 cups all purpose flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder

Beat butter and sugar together (2min). Add eggs and yolks one at a time. Add in extracts. Stir together dry ingredients. Add in 1 cup at a time, mix JUST until incorporated. DO NOT OVER MIX!!! Wrap in clear wrap and place in fridge for one hour.

When ready to bake, bring dough out, let it sit for a minute to warm up a bit, LIGHTLY flour counter, roll out and cookie cut away.

Parchment line your sheets and bake at 350 for 6-8 min. You want them to remain practically blond in color when you take them out.

The ICING you should use:
So easy! Can't remember where I got the recipe, but I've adjusted it a bit.

1 cup powdered sugar
2 T. half and half
1 1/2 T. corn syrup (I used BUTTER SYRUP I made from scratch, recipe to follow)
1/4 t. almond extract

Stir. Frost. Let dry.

And for me butter syrup is my NEW favorite!
Make it the next time you make waffles/pancakes/or the overnight french toast in the Christmas post below (Paula Deen, foodnetwork) or just dip with graham crackers (a must try!).
You can also drizzle it on Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles, I made those for dinner tonight- YUM!

BUTTER SYRUP

1 c butter
2 c sugar
1 c buttermilk
1 t vanilla
1/2 t. baking soda

Bring butter, sugar + buttermilk to a boil, stir constantly. Remove from heat + add extract. Sir in baking soda. It will fizz up, keep stirring until cool. Set aside and let it cool until it's a comfortable temp for eating.