Courtney, I have made this recipe several times, and people always love the way these cookies look. You might want to try a small batch and see if you are satisfied with the taste - I keep meaning to try it with a different roll-and-cut dough, because I think the basic technique would transfer to a different dough well, and I'm not crazy about the flavor of the cookies. However, I usually end up making them at the last minute, when I don't have time to experiment. I've never had any complaints about this recipe, I just think it could be tastier. It surely does make some pretty cookies, though! It takes some time, but it is not at all difficult.

My typed copy indicates that this is an adaptation of a Betty Crocker recipe, but I don't know which cookbook. It makes 4 dozen first-roll cookies - tho that depends on the size of your cookie cutters.

LEAF COOKIES

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Crisco
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
yellow food color
red food color
green food color

Stir together sugar, butter, and Crisco in a large bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Sift together and then add flour, baking soda, and salt.

Divide the dough into three parts, so the division is something like 45-30-25 percent. Stir 8 drops of yellow food coloring into the bigger “third” to make yellow dough. Stir 8 drops of yellow and 3 drops of red into the “30” portion to make orange dough. Stir 10 drops red, 8 drops green, and 3 drops yellow into the smallest portion of dough to make brown dough (sometimes I hold out a walnut-sized lump of dough to color plain green, to add spots to the leaves)(can do just yellow and orange – yellow = 12 drops, orange = 12 yellow and 4 red).

Drop small portions of the different color doughs close together in a random pattern on a lightly-floured pastry cloth. Roll doughs together into a marbled pattern, to 1/8” thickness. Cut with leaf-shaped cookie cutters, place on ungreased cookie sheets. Gently score the leaves with “veins” with a small, sharp knife before baking. Leaves can be “wrinkled” on the cookie sheets before baking.

Bake 6-7 minutes at 400F. Remove to wire rack to cool. These freeze well.

The re-roll cookies often turn out even prettier…

(Note from 2002: Did just walnut-sized green, red, and brown, and the rest yellow and orange)
Trust the drop counts – they bake up beautifully.

Original recipe says, for a special touch, dip the edges of baked cookies in melted chocolate. I have never tried that.