Kid-Friendly Cookies for Spring

Ralph Anderson / styling Buffy Hargett / food styling Rebecca Kracke Gordon

As the little ones don their spring finery and await Peter Cottontail's arrival, these special cookies are sure to become the golden egg of your gathering. Just three essentials--a simple sugar cookie dough, wooden craft sticks, and edible decorations--are all you need to create these fun-to-eat favors. You can make them a few days in advance and store in a cool, dry place.

It's best to serve these cookies in the milder seasons; a hot Southern summer may cause them to melt and fall apart. Let this versatile recipe inspire fun treats for any cooler-weather occasion.

Lollipop Cookie Recipes:

Fluttering Butterflies
We gave our butterflies a liftoff by attaching fluttering wings. You can choose to keep it simple with a flat shape, or try our technique for a three-dimensional design.

Purchase any size butterfly cookie cutter.
Prepare dough as directed, and cut out an even number of butterfly shapes. Insert craft sticks as directed into half of butterfly shapes, and set aside.
Cut remaining half of shapes vertically down the middle with a knife, creating 2 identical wings.
Bake whole butterflies and wings as directed, and cool. Decorate all cookies; let stand 1 hour.
Attach a right and left wing with Easy Microwave Frosting to center of each whole butterfly, propping each wing at an angle with a ball of aluminum foil to create a fluttering effect. Dip pretzel sticks in Easy Microwave Frosting and attach at the top to form antennae. Let cookies dry completely, and remove foil.

Perfect Pastels
Mix up some soft spring colors with these quick combinations. Be sure to use liquid food coloring, as pastes and powders tend to produce a grainy texture and uneven color.

Mint Green: Stir together 4 (2-ounce) melted vanilla candy coating squares and 4 drops liquid green food coloring.
Butterfly Blue: Stir together 4 (2-ounce) melted vanilla candy coating squares and 1 drop liquid blue food coloring.
Pale Yellow: Stir together 4 (2-ounce) melted vanilla candy coating squares and 2 drops liquid yellow food coloring.
Easter Bunny Pink: Stir together 4 (2-ounce) melted vanilla candy coating squares and 1 drop liquid red food coloring.

Decorating Fun

For our centerpiece (shown at right), put cookies in bud vases filled with candies.
Color your cookies with food-safe markers. Wilton offers FoodWriter Edible Color Markers, available at www.wilton.com.
Visit the baking aisle of your grocery store, and you'll find a variety of decorating options--from prepackaged colored frostings to self-adhesive edible adornments.
Create festive party favors for other holiday events by simply changing your color palette and cookie shape. Make pumpkins and leaves for a fall festival, or decorate edible ornaments and trees for a yuletide celebration.
Wrap each finished cookie with cellophane, and tie with colorful ribbon.

Sources:
Cookie cutters (1 1/2-inch and 4 1/2-inch bunny, butterfly, and chick) and pastel-colored sugars from Wilton, 1-800-794-5866 or www.wilton.com; fine pastel-colored sugars, pastel-colored eggs, pastel-colored confetti, and pastel-colored tiny sequins from Sweet Celebrations, 1-800-328-6722 or www.maidofscandinavia.com; pastel nonpareils from Target, www.target.com.

This article is from the March 2005 issue of Southern Living.

Kid-Friendly Cookies for Spring

These kid-friendly treats double as the perfect party snacks or a centerpiece.|Shannon Sliter Satterwhite