Easter Cookies

Yesterday, trying to get myself into a springy mood, I invested in some Easter-themed cookie cutters. I had an earthy vision in mind, something different from the brightly coloured stuff that is so prevalent at this time of year, so I found a generic sugar cookie recipe and spiced it up with some espresso powder. I have had a bag of organic raw turbinado sugar kicking around, and the granules are large and suitable for decorations. This is what I came up with.

I made royal icing with one egg white (at room temperature) and between 2 - 3 cups of icing sugar, got out the old piping bag and small plain tips (Wilton #2 and #4), and away I went.

The egg-shaped cookies didn't quite turn out the way I'd envisioned them. I'm not sure why, but I think it was a combination of the granules being too large for the size of cookie vis a vis the tips I used. With the flower shapes, I decided to keep it simple and only use the royal icing as decoration. I liked how they turned out far better.

The recipe for the cookies is as follows, adapted from The Cookie Bible's recipe for Butterfly Cookies on page 132. I highly recommend this book; everything I've made from it has turned out fantastically.

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tsp instant espresso powder (I use Nescafe's and it works just fine)

- 350F oven
- form the dough into two disks and chill until firm, either in the fridge or freezer
- roll out on lightly floured surface
- bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until just barely golden along the edges

Well, that's about it for my Easter baking, I think. It was never a "baking" holiday in my family the way Christmas was. It was more of a "let the Easter Bunny do all the work" kinda holiday.

However you celebrate, if you celebrate or if you don't, be well this weekend.