SUGAR PLUMS
1 cup unsalted butter, softened.......................1/2 cup sugar
2-1/2 cups flour .............................................1/2 to 1 tsp almond extract
red and blue (or purple) Food Coloring (and little dishes with water)
about 1/2 cup sugar (mixed with purple sparkling sugar, if you have it)
Green decorator icing (plastic tubes w/tips ~ storebought)
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Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Put 1/2 cup of sugar with the sparkling purple sugar in a small bowl and set aside
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Mix butter and sugar in mixer bowl until well combined. Beat in flour, about 4-5 drops of red and blue food coloring, and almond extract until mixture is smooth and holds together (may take a few minutes).
Make 1" balls with your hands and roll them in the purple sugar mixture. Then, I flattened the balls very slightly (so that they were more of an oval shape). I used a butter knife to roll towards one side, to make a crease. Then, I stuck a chopstick into the top to make the indentation.
Put the cookies about 1-2" apart on the cookie sheet (they won't spread). Sprinkle with a little more of the purple sugar mixture. Bake about 10-13 minutes, or until they just barely have a hint of brown and are set.
Cool in the pan about 5 minutes, then remove to rack or counter to cool. When cool, I put about 1-2 drops of red food coloring into a little bowl, with about 1 TB of water and used a tiny paintbrush to shade the sugar plums on one side. Then, pipe on a green leaf at the top with the decorator icing.
Makes about 2 dozen. These freeze well too.