Tricolor Pinwheels

Don't you love the "Seventeen" 70's magazine photo?!? I love that my mom still had this...

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

7 to 8 drops red food coloring

7 to 8 drops green food coloring

Powdered sugar

Start these cookies early in the day. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. With a mixer beat at low speed for about 3 minutes until dough is smooth. Divide dough into three portions. Mix red food coloring into one third. Mix green coloring into another third. Leave the rest plain. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Refrigerate about 2 hours. Divide each portion in half to make six portions. Sprinkle powdered sugar onto a sheet of waxed paper. With lightly sugared rolling pin, roll out a portion of green dough on the waxed paper to form a 10-by-six rectangle. On separate sheets of waxed paper do the same with one portion each of the red and the plain dough. Invert plain dough rectangle over green one. Peel off wax paper. repeat with red dough. Starting at the long side roll dough tightly, jelly-roll fashion, peeling back the waxed paper on the bottom while rolling. Wrap roll; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight. Rolled dough will keep in the refrigerator up to a week. Repeat the procedure with the other three dough. Preheat oven to 350. Slice each roll in 1/4 inch slices. Place slices on lightly greased cookie sheets one inch apart. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes 60-80 cookies.

*Note to self: only use real stick butter!! (no butter tubs or margarine! :{ )

One more note to self: taking these out of the oven just slightly before they are done will make them softer!