Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com
Printable recipe courtesy Inn Cuisine

Yield: approximately 2 dozen cookies

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 ounces cream cheese, slightly softened
• 1 & 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• assorted colors of decorating paste food coloring
• minimum 24-count candy/lollipop sticks if making into cookie pops (available at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc.)
• 1 egg white for dipping candy/lollipop sticks *see recipe
  
• optional - sugar crystals for sprinkling/decorating

Using an electric mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together until mixture is fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Beat or stir until a soft dough forms.

Divide the dough evenly according to how many decorating pastes you'll be tinting with---a minimum of 2 colors, a maximum of 4. Once you have separated the dough, tint each section with a different food color, mixing in each color until incorporated (tip: food-preparation gloves work great to avoid staining your hands and to make sure paste colors don't cross-contaminate different colors of dough). Wrap each section of tinted dough individually in plastic wrap, then place in refrigerator to chill for a minimum of two hours.

After dough is thoroughly chilled, remove from refrigerator and begin rolling 3/4-inch balls from each section of tinted dough. Place rolled balls onto parchment or waxed paper while you work. Continue rolling each section of dough until all balls are formed.

Taking 1 ball of each color, place tinted balls together until 1 large ball is formed (if you are using 2 colors, you'll have 2 balls forming 1 large ball; if you are using 4 colors, you'll have 4 balls forming 1 large ball). Begin rolling each large ball in your hands to meld colors, then place ball on your work surface to continue rolling into a 12-inch long roll (like a skinny, long, bread stick). Once a 12-inch long rod is formed, begin rolling dough onto itself in a pinwheel fashion---starting at one end and coiling up and onto itself (or around itself) to make an approximately 2 & 3/4-inch round cookie. Repeat as necessary until all tinted balls have been combined, shaped and rolled. If desired, sprinkle rolled cookies with decorating sugar crystals.

Place rolled, pinwheel cookies 3-inches apart on baking sheet(s) lined with parchment paper (to create a non-stick surface), and place in refrigerator to chill while oven warms. Depending on how many baking sheets you have, you may need to work in batches.

*If turning cookies into cookie pops, dip one end of the candy/lollipop stick into liquid egg white before inserting into cookies---this will help the cookies adhere to the sticks better. To insert the dipped end of a stick , hold a chilled, rolled cookie in your opposite hand and gently push the stick towards the middle of cookie (beginning around seem area), being careful not to break through the top or bottom of each cookie.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove baking sheet(s) from oven and place 1 sheet at a time in the center of a 350 degree F oven. Bake for approximately 8 minutes (in my oven, the timing was spot on---8 minutes each batch); cookies should not have browned on top (just slightly on the bottom) and yield just slightly when touched. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 1 minute before carefully moving to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat steps as needed for subsequent batches.