Rainbow Unicorn Cookies

Things were afoot in my kitchen last night. My coworker is quitting to move to India, so I made some of my famous (not really) unicorn cookies for her party. We constantly joke about The Unicorn Express, so I decided to make them RAINBOW UNICORN COOKIES.

2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb butter, softened
1 c. sugar, plus 1/4 c. for rolling
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven 375. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt. Cream butter and 1 c. sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 mins). Add vanilla and egg. Beat about 30 secs until just combined. Add dry ingredients, beat until just mixed. Roll 1 1/2 tbsp of dough in ball and roll in remaining sugar. Space 2"-2 1/2" apart. Butter bottom of cup and slightly flatten tops of dough ball about 3/8"- 1/2" thick. Bake 11-12 minutes, switching cookie sheets halfway through. Cook's Illustrated Recipe via chowhound.

This dough was incredibly soft, and my initial attempts looked like unicorn poo instead of the unicorns themselves. For my second attempt, I added a bunch more flour (maybe half a cup to half a mixed-up recipe) and let the dough chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes after I added the food coloring.

Speaking of color! I divided the dough into ROYGBV sections, then worked in food coloring with my hands like playdough. I was a little worried that working the dough that much would make the cookies tougher...but let's be honest, no one cares. If you're eating a RAINBOW UNICORN COOKIE, the magic will make up for any lack of technique. In the future, I recommend meticulously splitting the egg into five parts and working in each color separately (...no).

I also baked these at 350 because the edges were burning too quickly at 375.

Bam. Unicorns on parade.

xo, anne.