Welcome to How To Cook That: Ann Reardon's Christmas Cookie Extravaganza

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just six sleeps away! My kids are bursting with excitement, and I'm feeling just as festive. As part of an incredible collaboration with the KIN community – a network of talented YouTube channels – I'll be sharing 27 different Christmas cookie recipes with you all. That's right; we're talking a whole slew of sweet treats to get you in the holiday spirit.

To kick things off, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the other amazing cooks involved in this collaboration. First up, we have Gemma Stafford sharing her delightful recipe from Cook with April, followed by cake style TV's mouth-watering creation. And then there are many more incredible recipes waiting for you in the full playlist that I'll be linking to at the end of this video.

Now, let's get started on making those beautiful spiral cookies with sprinkles on the outside! To begin, you'll need a few simple ingredients: butter or margarine, plain all-purpose flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring. Add the sugar to the butter and then mix in the vanilla extract until combined. If you're feeling extra fancy, you can use an electric mixer – but trust me, it's just as easy to do by hand!

Once your mixture is smooth, add the eggs and stir them through until everything is well combined. Next, tip all of that into the flour – don't worry if it seems like there's too much at first; just keep mixing until it comes together beautifully. Once you've reached this stage, knead the dough with your hands until it forms a ball.

Cut the dough in half and flatten one side slightly, then add some red color to it. I'm using gel color because it's a bit thicker and less watery than liquid colors – helps prevent stains on your hands! Now, mix the color through until you have an even distribution of color all the way through, no streaks of white visible.

Cut the white dough in half and place one of them onto some non-stick baking paper. Place two objects of equal height on either side; you can use chopsticks or rulers to help with this step. Cover the top with more baking paper and then use a rolling pin to flatten it into an even layer, making sure it's all the same height.

Repeat the process with the red dough, checking that the size of your rectangle is similar to the white one (but don't worry if it's not exact – we're aiming for similarity here!). Slide the baking paper onto a flat surface and position the red dough so that it's nearly at the edge of the white, leaving a line of white dough visible. Carefully pull the baking paper under the board, moving the board back as you go to keep the red dough from falling apart.

Trim the edges of your rectangle to make them neat on those three sides and then start rolling the dough over, gently pressing down as you go to avoid gaps in the roll. Place this beautiful spiral cookie onto a tray in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up – it's going to be worth the wait!

Now that your dough is chilled, you can create those gorgeous sprinkles on top by spreading out hundreds and thousands next to the dough, rolling them through gently until they're evenly coated. Next, slice off pieces about 1cm thick to reveal the stunning spiral pattern inside.

Place these cookies onto a lined baking tray and pop them into the oven for around 10-12 minutes – the aroma of baked cookies will soon fill your kitchen! Once they're done, let them cool before serving with some delicious milk.

But wait – there's more! To create those beautiful internal patterns in your cookies, you'll need to roll two cylinders together using alternating red and white pieces. Cut one cylinder into quarters, then cut each quarter in half again. Repeat this process with the remaining dough, putting the final cylinder together once all the pieces are ready.

Roll this new cylinder in sprinkles if you like or simply slice it as is – either way, you'll be treated to a delightful pattern inside your cookies. Place these onto a baking tray and pop them into the oven for another 10-12 minutes. And just like that, you've got two more stunning Christmas cookie creations to add to your holiday spread!

Before we go, I want to remind you to check out all 26 other incredible recipes in our playlist – there's something for every taste and preference waiting for you! Wishing you a wonderful day, merry Christmas, and I'll see you all on Friday.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to How To Cook That I am Ann ReardonCan you believe it is only 6 more sleeps untilChristmas. My kids are so excited, I am soexcited I love Christmas. And to celebrateI am participating in the biggest collaborationI have ever been part of with KIN communitywhich that is like a network of cool channelsthat are on youtube. So what we are goingto do is we are going to make for you 27,yes 27 different Christmas cookies. So I amgoing to show you how to make these cool spiralcookies with sprinkles on the outside anda few variations on that and then there are26 other cooking channels on youtube thatare all part of KN community that are goingto show you how to make something as welland they are all going to be on one big playlistand I'll link to that at the end of this video.But at the beginning I just wanted to showyou a few of them so you know what everyoneelse is baking. We've got this one here byGemma Stafford and this one by Cook with Apriland this one by cake style TV and as I saidthere are many many more in the playlist I'lllink to that at the end and in the descriptionbelow. But now lets get started making thesespiral cookies. with sprinkles on.To make these you will needbutter or margarine, plain all-purpose flour,eggs, sugar, vanilla, and red food colouring.Add the sugar to the butter and then the vanillaextract in there as well.Then mix that together until it is combined,you can use an electric mixer if you preferhere but you don't need to you can just useyour muscles and do it by hand.Add the eggs and stir those through untilyour mixture is smooth. Then tip all of thatinto the flour, you can tip the flour intoit I just had the flour in a bigger bowl soI did it that way, either way it doesn't matter. And then start to stir those together andat first it will seem like there is too muchflour but it is OK just keep on mixing itand it will come together. Keep going untilit's nearly all combined . Then tip it outonto the bench and use your hands to gentlyknead and squeeze it until it forms a ball.Cut that in half, flatten out one side andadd some red colour to it. I am using gelcolour because it is a bit thicker and notas watery as your liquid colour. Then I liketo spread it out using a knife and cut itand mix it in a bit first, it kind of lookslike I am killing it. But it helps not getso much red colouring on you hands if youdo this first. Now knead that colour throughuntil you have an even colour all the waythrough and no streaks of white.Cut the white dough in half. Place it on somenon-stick baking paper on the bench and puttwo things of the same height either side,you could use chopsticks here or two rulers.Put some more baking paper over the top andthen just use a rolling pin to flatten itand spread it out into an even layer thatis all the same height.We want to make it into a rectangle so ifit is rounded at the ends like mine is justcut it off and add those extra bits to thecorners and then re-roll it.Now do the same thing with half of the reddough. Check the size of the rectangle andtry and get it very similar to the size ofthe white one. It doesn't have to be exactbut the closer the better. Slide the bakingpaper onto something flat I am using a choppingboard. And then pull the paper under the boardposition the red so it it nearly at the edgeof the white, leaving a line of white doughvisible there. And then carefully pull thebaking paper under the board, so pulling itup and under the board, moving the board backas you go so that red dough is just slidingoff and sitting on top of the white.Trim the edges to make it neat on those threesides and then starting at the other end liftit to pull up and roll the dough over. Gentlypressing down as you go so that you don'thave lots of gaps in the roll. Then placethat on a tray in the freezer for about 30minutes to firm up.With the rest of your dough that you've gotleft you can do the same thing or if you wantsomething different roll them both into thesame sized cylinders and place those two cylindersin the freezer as well.Now that you dough is chilled spread out somehundreds and thousands next to it and rollit through pressing lightly until you geta good coating all over. Now slice off piecesabout 1cm thick to reveal the beautiful spiralpattern on the inside.Use your fingers to round them up a bit ifthey have got a bit squashed while you werecutting them and place onto a lined bakingtray.Bake them in the oven for around 10-12 minutesand then that smell of baked cookies willwaft through the kitchen. Pull them out ofthe oven and let them cool.With the other dough cut one of the cylindersin halfthen into quartersthen cut each quarter in half again.Repeat that with your red dough.Then put together a new cylinder alternatingthe red and the white pieces all the way arounduntil you've joined 8 pieces together. Thenjust give it a gentle squeeze and roll tojoin it to each other. And repeat with therest of the bits that you've got left so youmake two cylinders. You can roll this in sprinklestoo if you like or just slice it as is. andyou end up with this neat little pattern insideyour cookies. Place them onto a baking trayand bake them for 10 -12 minutes just likewe did with the others and serve with somemilk.Remember to check out the 26 other cookierecipes in the playlist and merry christmasto you and your family. I hope you have agreat day and I'll see you all on Friday.\n"