Just as wreaths, stockings and mistletoes signify the spirit of christmas, cookies and cakes do their part in spreading the joy all around. As the festival of christmas is just a few days away, people have started baking goodies and packing them in decorative tin boxes and wrapping papers, shipping them across to their loved ones and friends, wishing them joy and success in the days to come. Some flavors and smells reign the kitchens in these festive days, including, but not limited to chocolate, peppermint, vanilla, and of course, gingerbread! Joining in the fun and having found a reason to bake more often, I decided to go for a batch of these beautiful pink and white Swirl Cookies flavored with peppermint and vanilla. I love the candy canes and the beautiful ribbon patterns that they form, but I can't take too much of peppermint in one go. So here's the perfect solution, these basic sugar cookies, with a hint of peppermint and all the goodness of the lovely colors.

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Ingredients
1 cup butter or margarine - softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tspn peppermint extract
1/4 tspn red food color

Method
Heat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, beat butter, powdered sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed. Stir in the flour, then divide the dough in half. Stir peppermint extract and food color into one half of dough, while keeping the other part as it is.

Now again divide each color of dough in half (making 2 white and 2 pink parts).

Now take each part of the dough, and roll it on a generously floured surface into a thick cylindrical rope, about 12 inches long. Place 2 ropes, 1 red and 1 white, side by side. Now twist them together with your hands so they get entwined. Repeat with the remaining 2 pieces of dough.

Now make small balls from each double-colored dough, then shape each into a flat cookie shape. You can use a cookie cutter to give them shape, or just grease a steel bowl (katori) with oil and use this to give shape to the cookie. It should be fairly easy to do it with your hands too, just shape them like small cutlets.

Place them about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool completely on the wire rack. There, your beautiful pink and white swirled cookies are ready to add a festive decor to your holiday baking!

Tip: You can store these cookies in an air-tight container and refrigerate them for longer use. But it's best to refrigerate the dough until you want to make the cookies rather than storing the cookies themselves.

To see the gorgeous pics of these delicious and festive pink and white swirl cookies, click here

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