This isn't really an activity I do with my kids, but it's something they think is really fun to eat, so I thought I would share. I made these for a baby shower I helped with on saturday. They are sugar cookies on a bamboo skewer that I used as centerpieces for the food table and then the guests took them home as a favor. They are not too hard to make and look really cute.
This is the sugar cookie recipe I use:
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbls. milk
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Cream the butter, shortening, sugar, egg, vanilla and milk. Beat it until it's light and fluffyish. add dry ingredients. chill. roll on floured surface and cut with cookie cutters. Bake on parchment lined cookie sheet for 8 - 10 min. at 375 degrees.
Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes. You want them to be slightly brown around some of the edges. Remove from pan to cooling rack and let cool.
Here is the recipe for the Royal Icing I use to frost them:
3 Tbls. meringue powder
4 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbls. warm water
Beat until it forms peaks, about 7 to 10 minutes. You can cover the bowl with a wet towel to keep the frosting from drying out while you work.
I fill a decorating bag with white frosting and pipe the outline of the cookie, or whatever shape I want on the cookie. I let that dry. Then I put some frosting in a bowl and add a teaspoon or so of water along with some food coloring and mix it up. The frosting will be more flowy, but not too runny or you'll get lots of bubbles. If you added too much water, just add some more white frosting from the big bowl until you get the right consistency. I use a knife to spread around the inside color and it will usually be flowy enough that the knife marks eventually disappear. If the cookie has lots of small spaces, sometimes I fill a decorating bag and use that to pipe in the color.
After the frosting dries, I wrap them in plastic wrap and tie a bow at the bottom. I usually make them a day ahead so they have time to sit all wrapped up, because then the cookie gets softer, and I think it's yummy when the cookie is soft and the frosting is hard. The day of the party, I arrange them in a container that has the green florist foam in the bottom and colorful tissue paper, cutting some of the sticks to make them shorter.
Is this the best way to make these cookies? Probably not. I'm not a professional and there are probably people with better techniques for cookie making, but this is what works for me.
I don't know about the technique, but they sure were tasty! Mmmmm.
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