It's October and that means it's time for a little bit of PINK... for those of you that didn't know it's breast cancer awareness month. Before you think duh...I promise not everybody knows that, really it's true. My neighbor and good friend came over to sample some of these cookies and honestly didn't know...and she claims to be a pink lover, ha! I for one love being able to find things in my favorite shade of the rainbow all month while supporting a great cause at the same time. (ok so it's not in the rainbow but it should be) My only quirk is that it's in October... I mean seriously why do they do throw it in the middle of October where spooky things and creepy crawlers are on every shelf. It's just confusing. Do I buy the pink M& M's or the pumpkin M&M's...why not May? May would be the perfect time for PINK and people have a lot less to do and could plan more fundraisers and events..even spend more money on products because their not out buying cheesy costumes and making themselves sick off candy. See yet another argument for the guy that plans the calendar. When I grow up I want to be America's calendar lady...so I can remove August, add a bakers day, and put Pink in May among a few other things. Back to the pink cookies...
I know many of us know and care about somebody who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, so I wanted to create a few treats that would be great to make for functions and fundraisers. I have several ideas and I can't wait to share them with you, so keep and eye out! Today I baked up some of these pink cookies and they were just what I needed, some girls need a glass or wine or a hot bath...I like to color food pretty colors and roll them in sprinkles :). I used the same recipe as I did on the swirly Halloween cookies. They aren't an overly sweet cookie so the sprinkles work really well, and the light strawberry taste is different and fun. I REALLY loved them when they were warm and the chocolate was still soft and gooey...and if your not going to eat them right away...you can pop them in the microwave for a few moments later on. Yum.
If you'd like you could use your own fav sugar cookie recipe or even a mix. I chose to once again use Sugarbelle's and just added some strawberry flavoring for a fun taste. Which is also optional of course.
Here's what your going to need:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 TSP. strawberry extract
2 3/4 cup flour
2 TSP. baking powder
1 TSP. Salt
Pink gel coloring
Pink sprinkles
White candy melts
Parchment paper
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Step 1: Beat together butter and sugar.
Step 2: In a small separate bowl mix together egg and flavoring. I used 1 TSP vanilla and 2 TSP strawberry but you can flavor it any flavor you'd like.
Step 3: Add the egg/flavoring mixture and mix well.
Step 4: In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powdered, and salt.
Step 5: Slowly add in flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time until it's fully mixed.
When your dough is ready it will not stick to your finger much when pressed. If it's still a bit sticky work in a little more flour.
Step 6: Split into however many shades you would like. I used three shades of pink.
Step 7: Roll into a ball and press thumb in to make an indent. Apply a bit of pink gel coloring into the indent. Remember light pink only takes a little bit! So add just a bit and keep adding if you need to. Work it into the dough by folding the dough in towards the coloring. This will help keep it off your hands.
Step 8: After coloring the dough, place it in the fridge to chill covered for about 5 minutes. You don't have to do this but I found my dough gets kind of soft from working the coloring in.
Step 9: Roll the dough into balls about 1.5 inches wide.
Step 10: Press candy a candy melt or two inside. (optional)
Step 11: Now roll back up into a nice little ball.
Step 12: Now roll around in some sprinkles. See isn't this fun? Who needs wine :)
Step 12: Once your balls are all stuffed with a candy melt or two and rolled in sprinkles take the bottom of a clean flat cup and squish just a bit. I was able to use the bottom of my cup kind of a guide to make them all the same size. Once they went just over the edges I stopped. Remember to be gentle and slow!
Step 13: Bake at 350 for 9 minutes.
Let sit for a moment then cool on a cooling rack. Or gobble them up once they aren't crazy hot but still soft and gooey.
Cookies - pink -white chocolate - sprinkles. Many of my favorite things crammed into one. :)
These package up really easy and would make a great treat to use at an awareness event. I would have showed you a cute little way to package them...but it started raining about 5 minutes after I started photographing! So I was thankful for the few shots I got and called it a day :)
Happy Baking!