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Roly-Poly Santas Recipe

Roly-Poly Santas Recipe photo by Taste of Home

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I tuck one of these fanciful Santas into every gift cookie tray I make. They're a guaranteed hit with kids—young and old. And I like that they're not too difficult to assemble.

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Roly-Poly Santas Recipe

Prep: 1 hour Bake: 15 min. + cooling

Yield: 12 Servings

60 15 75

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Red paste food coloring
Miniature chocolate chips
ICING:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/3 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
2 tablespoons milk, divided
ASSEMBLY:
White nonpareils, sugar pearls and red-hot candies
Additional miniature semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla; mix well. Add flour and mix well. Remove 1-3/4 cups dough; tint red. Shape white dough into 12 balls, 3/4 in. each, and 60 balls, 1/4 in. each. Shape red dough into 12 balls, 1 in. each, and 60 balls, 1/2 in. each.
Place the 1-in. red balls on two ungreased baking sheets for the body of 12 Santas; flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Attach 3/4-in. white balls for heads; flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Attach four 1/2-in. red balls to each Santa for arms and legs. Attach 1/4-in. white balls to ends of arms and legs for hands and feet.
Shape remaining 1/2-in. red balls into hats. Attach remaining 1/4-in. white balls to tips of hats. Place inverted chocolate chips for eyes and buttons.
Bake at 325° for 12-15 minutes or until set. Cool for 10 minutes; carefully remove from pans to wire racks (cookies will be fragile).
For icing, combine shortening and vanilla in a small bowl; mix well. Gradually add 1-1/3 cups confectioners' sugar; add 1 tablespoon milk. Gradually add remaining sugar and milk.
Pipe a band of icing on hat, cuffs at hands and feet, and down the front and at bottom of jacket. Pipe swirls of icing on tip of hat and for beard. Sprinkle nonpareils and sugar pearls over icing on hat and beard. Place a red-hot candy for mouth. Spread melted chocolate for boots. Let stand until set. Yield: 1 dozen.

Editor's Note: Remaining dough may be shaped into balls and baked.

Nutritional Facts 1 cookie equals 434 calories, 25 g fat (13 g saturated fat), 46 mg cholesterol, 175 mg sodium, 50 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein.

Originally published as Roly-Poly Santas in Country Woman Christmas Annual 1998, p30

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Roly-Poly Santas

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Reviewed on Dec. 16, 2011 by swtpea416

I have been making this cookie for 3 years. It taste great, looks great. You get tons of complaments. This year i am hosting a cookie swap, and i making 4 dozen of them :)

Reviewed on Dec. 12, 2010 by snartietoot

The Santas take a long time to make (lots of balls to roll!) but they're SO worth it. The recipe is delicious and they're absolutely adorable. You can't beat the WOW factor. I've made them for three years in a row now and everyone I give them to loves them. I'd recommend using SALTED butter, though. If you use unsalted, the flavor comes out a bit flat. I also use my own icing recipe rather than one that calls for shortening. I've used this same cookie dough to make LOTS of different holiday shapes (wreaths, reindeer, even teddy bears!) and they all come out perfectly! I've tried adding mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to the cookie dough and made plain chocolate-chip shortbread cookies out of them which were inhaled by my family immediately. I even substituted 1/4 cup of cocoa for 1/4 cup of the flour and made cocoa-flavored cookies. YUM!