If you have young children, these cookies are a lot of fun to make together. Mixing the dough, rolling it out, and using cookie cutters helps children to learn to be autonomous and also makes them excited for Easter (see 12 tips for cooking with children). You can let them try the icing too if you can keep them from eating it straight from the bag! Sprinkles add color to these cookies, but you can also add food dye gels to the icing for some nice pastel colors.
Yield:Â about 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter or shortening
1 cup whipping cream or canned milk or (1/2 cup sour cream and 1/2 cup milk)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350° F.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, cream, sugar, honey, vanilla, and salt.
In a medium bowl, sift flour and baking powder together.
Combine flour mixture into the first bowl until it forms a soft dough ball. Refrigerate dough for at least 1-2 hours but overnight if possible.
Roll out cookie dough using half the dough at a time with a cookie cutter of your choice. Flour the rolling pin a bit if the dough is sticking.
Place cookies on a Silpat lined cookie sheet of your choice sprayed with cooking spray or covered with parchment paper.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or when edges barely start to turn brown, depending on the size of your cookie.
Let cookies cool on wire racks completely before icing.
Follow directions on the back of the Royal Icing bag to make icing. If adding color, add a small amount of gel food coloring at a time until you get the desired color. If using piping bags, fill them about 1/2 way full, or if you are short on time, you can carefully dip the fronts of the cookies into the icing.
The icing should be dry after about 2 hours. Next, you can add bunny tails or other details to your cookies with more icing and then add sprinkles on top before it dries.
