Ingredients

3/4 cup organic butter
3 oz organic cream cheese
1 cup cane sugar
1 cage free egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
India Tree food coloring for natural dyes

I was at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens Junior Garden Chef Camp and made play dough cookies. I had a lot of fun. It took about 20 minutes to make these play dough cookies.

We let the dough chill in the refrigerator and then started making the cookies. I recommend having each person make a different color so you can squish them together and flatten them down to mix the colors.

Then you roll the dough to be long and skinny like a snake and coil the dough to look like a snake or cinnamon roll. You can do it however you want. Here are some ideas: you can make triangles, squares or circles or even use cookie cutters for holidays.

My teacher got me natural dyes since my mom does not want me to eat chemical dyes if it can be avoided. My mom was very appreciative.

The colors for the chemical dyes were much brighter and very tempting. :( I wish they would make some natural ones with bright colors. They really looked like play dough. That is why they are called play dough cookies.

Enjoy:)!

Directions

1) Cream 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) pasture or unsalted butter, 3 ounces of cream cheese, and 1 cup of cane sugar until fluffy. Add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

2) In a separate bowl, combine the 2 3/4 cups of unbleached flour, 1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. Divide dough in 4 balls. Color each ball a different color.

3) Wrap in waxed paper or plastic and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes or refrigerator for 2 hours.

4) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape colors into 3/4 inch balls. Place 4 color balls together and make into one giant ball. Roll into a long snake and then coil roll to make a cookie. Place cookies 2 to 3 inches apart on parchement lined or greased cookie sheet.

5) Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.

***Recipe from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This article was researched and written by my daughter. This fall, she will be asked to research topics and give presentations to her class. These posts are good practice for her. We hope to find topics your children find interesting and encourage them to start writing as well. If you have any great ideas for posts about foods or fun activities, feel free to share them in the comments. She would love to hear from her friends. Have a great summer!