For the Earth Day-themed week, I made Earth cookies. To make these cookies, I took a basic sugar cookie recipe, divided the dough into two portions, and dyed one portion blue and the other green. I then divided both colors into the 36 portions recommended by the recipe. To make one full cookie, I grabbed one ball of blue and one of green and rolled them between my hands to create the swirled effect. I found I got the best swirl when I split the color portions in half and alternated them before rolling, like this.

I thought the base sugar cookie recipe was great. It made a soft, chewy cookie that stayed that way for days. I chose to include the ¼ teaspoon of lemon oil, and it added a fantastic hint of lemon.

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The Essential Chewy Sugar Cookie

Recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion

Makes 36 cookies

Ingredients

• ¾ cup (1½ sticks, 6 ounces) unsalted butter
  
• ¾ cup (5¼ ounces) granulated sugar
  
• ½ cup (4 ounces) brown sugar
  
• ¼ cup (2¾ ounces) light corn syrup
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg or ¼ teaspoon lemon oil (optional, your choice)
  
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
  
• ½ teaspoon salt
  
• 1 large egg
  
• 2½ cups (10½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• ¼ cup (2¼ ounces) coarse or granulated sugar, for coating
  
  

  Directions
  

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, nutmeg (if using), baking powder, baking soda, salt, and egg together. Stir in the flour.
   
3. Place the coarse sugar in a shallow dish. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here) into the sugar, rolling the balls to coat them. Place them on prepared cookie sheets. Place them on the prepared baking sheets.
   
4. Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges are just barely beginning to brown; they will look soft. If you bake the cookies too long, they’ll be crunchy, not chewy. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.