Halloween Pinwheel Cookies

I was looking for an easy, last-minute-ish cookie to make for Stenni's preschool parade and party. Why? Because I wanted to bring something and I signed up too late to take the easy way out and bring cupcakes. So I found this post on Pinterest from playingwithsugar.com. Stacy, the blogger, gives a really great tutorial, so I won't repeat the whole thing. But I will give you a few tips, since I made them for myself this morning. First off, I will say that the recipe for the cookie dough is delicious. Like, amazing (the cookies themselves are awesome, but I really liked the dough).  But don't sub out the unsalted butter for margarine. Salted butter is fine, if that's what you've got, but don't go the margarine route. You might need to add a little more flour to get this dough to roll out properly, and it wouldn't kill you to refrigerate it for a little while before you roll it out in the first place (the first time I tried to roll it out...yeah, it didn't go well. It should look like pie crust dough). Putting the dough between two floured sheets of parchment is a pretty good way to go. This isn't really a "have your kids help you in the kitchen" type of recipe, except maybe if they're just throwing things in the mixer (but my fuse is pretty short these days, so maybe that's just me). Also...use serious gel food coloring. I wanted a more vividly orangey orange swirl. It didn't happen. But that's ok, there's always next time.
Here's the awesome thing about these cookies though: They can be changed for any occasion. Christmas cookies? Change the colors to red and green and add some peppermint extract. Valentine's day? Squish the log into a heart shape before cutting. St. Patrick's Day? Green food coloring and creme de menthe. You get the idea. Pretty cool, huh? They weren't really easy, and I wouldn't have made them last-minute had I known better, but now I know what to expect, and you do too!

A dour-looking kitty cat with a plateful of cookies. Oh, and a mouthful of cookies too. It's Halloween. Get over it.

Happy Halloween Everyone! And Stay Safe!