Watermelon Slice Cookies

Once when I made these butter cookies for a party, a neighbor thought they were so attractive that she froze one to show friends. They're easy to make, too!

Watermelon Slice Cookies

Average Rating: 4.5

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 25 min. + chilling Bake: 10 min./batch
YIELD: about 3 dozen.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • Red and green gel food coloring
  • 1/3 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips or raisins, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, optional

Instructions

  • 1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Reserve 1 cup dough.
  • 2. Tint remaining dough red; shape into a 3-1/2-in.-long roll and wrap. Tint 1/3 cup of reserved dough green; wrap. Wrap remaining plain dough. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm.
  • 3. On a lightly floured surface, roll plain dough into an 8-1/2x3-1/2-in. rectangle. Unwrap red dough and place on a short end of the plain dough; roll up.
  • 4. Roll green dough into a 10x3-1/2-in. rectangle. Place red and plain roll on a short end of the green dough; roll up. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.
  • 5. Preheat oven to 350°. Unwrap and cut dough into 3/16-in. slices (just less than 1/4 in.). Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Lightly press chocolate chips and, if desired, sesame seeds into red dough to resemble watermelon seeds.
  • 6. Bake 9-11 minutes or until firm. Immediately cut cookies in half. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Nutrition Facts

1 cookie: 82 calories, 4g fat (2g saturated fat), 16mg cholesterol, 52mg sodium, 11g carbohydrate (5g sugars, 0 fiber), 1g protein.