Minichefs: Easter cookies

Chocolate usually takes centre stage when it comes to celebrating Easter but these cookies make for egg-cellent Easter baking, so we set our minichefs to task decorating the bunnies, chicks and butterflies.

Sweetly does it cookie cutters

Ingredients:

For the cookies

100g unsalted butter
100g castor sugar
1 drop vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten
200g plain flour
Pinch of salt

For the icing

2 packs fondant icing (optional)
1 egg white
250g icing sugar
Food colouring in colours of your choice
Sprinkles

Easter cookies cutters and tools

Method:

1. Cream the butter, castor sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Bourbon Vanilla is incredibly strong – to ensure delicious biscuits, use only a tiny drop.
2. Add the lightly beaten egg and mix until well combined.
3. Add your flour, a pinch of salt and mix together at low speed. Now gather your mixture into a ball and chill for 1 hour.

Baking easter cookies

4. Flour your work surface (this ensures that the dough is moveable and doesn’t stick to everything).

Rolling out dough for Easter cookies

5. Now begin rolling out the dough to 0.5-1cm thick and cut your shapes out with cookie cutters. For best results chill for another 10 minutes in the fridge on baking trays. Chilling just before baking will ensure that they keep their shape and don’t spread out.

Making Easter cookies with the Sweetly does it set

6. Bake at 180ºC for 5-10 minutes until lightly golden then leave to cool.
7. Now for the icing: place egg white and half the icing sugar into the mixer and mix, steadily adding more icing sugar until white and creamy. Adjust to desired consistency by adding additional icing sugar if you want it stiffer.
8. Separate this into bowls and add a drop of food colouring to each. To ensure that your icing doesn’t go crusty while decorating, cover the icing directly with cling wrap and use as needed. To use the fondant icing, roll it out nice and thin and use your cookie cutters to stamp out your desired shape. Place gently on top of the cooled biscuit.

Decorating Easter biscuits

9. Get stuck in decorating with any goodies that take your fancy.

Easter cookies decorated with Nicoletta

Happy Easter everyone.

Thanks to Robyn, one of our star grads, for baking these lovely easter cookies for us.