Here are some fun spring-time bugs for a 2 year old girl's (Gretel, isn't that a great name, so feminine and pretty) birthday party this weekend.
Chocolate cookies with royal icing decorations were a lot of fun to do...
The cookie is just a basic rolled chocolate sugar cookie, that is a dream to put together and roll out - no chill time which was great.
Recipe:
Oven to 350
Cream:
230 g (1C) butter
150 g (2/3 C) white sugar
75g (1/3 C) brown sugar
Add:
1 egg
Add:
1 T brewed espresso or 1 T chocolate liqueur
Sift together the following dry ingredients, then add to above in 3 stages, doing the 3rd addition by hand, rather than using the mixer, to keep the texture softer:
35 g (1/3C cocoa powder, Dutch processed)
336 g (3 C) all purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
When you've mixed the dough, divide into 2 balls, cover one with plastic while working with the other.
Lightly flour your rolling out surface and roll the dough to approx. 1/8" thick. Run a metal spatula under dough to make sure it isn't stuck and proceed to cut out desired shapes.
Place shapes on sheet pan lined with parchment or silpat and bake for approx. 6-8 min. Because the dough is dark it is easy to over bake it, so put the minimum timer on and check closely after it goes off until they are done. The cookies will have lost their shine and if you gently touch them they will feel set in the middle. let cookies cool on sheet.
dough will last up to 2 weeks in fridge, or can be frozen for up to 2 months.
Here's a "guy" cake I did last weekend - my choices were either hockey or golf themes and I loathe hockey only slightly less than golf, so hockey it was....
The bugs look really delicious and you are good at decorations. Must have been a hit at the birthday party
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