Spring Circus Cookies or Spring Easter Mother’s Circus Animal Cookies

*

Spring Circus Cookies

*1/2 cup Butter, room temperature

*1/4 cup Granulated Sugar

*1/4 cup Brown Sugar

*2 Tablespoons Honey

*4 Tablespoons Cream

*2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

*1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract

*1/2 cup White Whole Wheat Flour

*2 cups All-Purpose Flour

*1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

*1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

*1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

*1/2 cup Old Fashion Oats, chopped

*Sprinkles/Nonpariels

*
**Small or medium-sized cookie cutters of animal shapes or any shapes desired.

In stand mixer on medium-low Speed, cream together the wet ingredients; butter and sugar until light and creamy. Then drizzle in the honey while mixing and add the: Cream, vanilla, almond extract and continue mixing until combined.

*
Sift together in a mixing bowl the dry ingredients; flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. Then add the sea salt and oats and whisk together. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until it forms a semi-sticky dough.

*
Remove the dough from the bowl and divide in half. Form the dough into two flat dough disks on 2 pieces of plastic wrap and wrap each dough disk and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

After refrigeration roll out each dough disk, on a floured surface a thick 1/4 inch and cutout cookies with cookie cutters. Place cut cookies on a Silpat covered baking sheet and bake the cookies in a 350 F. oven. for 6-7 minutes for small cookies and 7-8 minutes for the medium cookies. When finished baking allow the cookies to remain on the cookie sheet 2 minutes before removing to cool on baking racks.

*

Dipping Chocolate Frosting

*
*1 cup Ghirardelli White Melting Wafers

*
Melt the wafers in a double boiler or we use a glass bowl over a sauce pan filled about 1/3 full, making sure the water doesn’t tough the glass bowl. Bring to a simmer on medium-low until wafers are melted. (You can also use 1 cup of Ghirardelli White Melting Chips with 2 teaspoons of white vegetable shortening. Melt in the same way you would the melting wafers.)

*
Divide the melted vanilla chips or wafers into two bowls (Bowls that are big enough to dip one of the flat sides of each your baked cookies) and then dip cookies in the melted chips or wafers and sprinkle with sprinkles/Nonpareils. Allow cookies to dry on baking racks.

*
Store the cookies in an air tight container for 2-3 days.

See Homemade Circus Cookies for full Instructions

See Homemade Circus Cookies for full Instructions

Enjoy!

Lindy

Sugar Cookie Recipe

*

Ingredients:

*
*1/2 cup Butter

*1 cup Sugar

*1 teaspoon Vanilla

*1 Egg

*1/2 cup Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream, Sour Cream or Cream Cheese (I’ve used each one of these variation each gives the cookie a slightly different taste and they’re all yummy!) Note: If you use cream cheese use only 3 cups of flour

*3 and 1/4 cup All-purpose Flour

*1 teaspoon Soda

*1/2 teaspoon Salt

*
In a stand mixer on medium-low speed cream together the butter and sugar. Then add the vanilla, egg and cream of your choice and mix just until combined.

*
Using Sifter, sift together in a bowl the flour soda and salt and slowly add to the creamed mixture, mixing on low just until barely combined. Dough should be slightly sticky. Do Not Over Mix!

*
Then divide the dough into 3 dough balls, flatten dough balls making disk shapes. Now wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or more.

*
Remove 1 dough disk at a time from the refrigerator and rollout disk on a floured surface with rolling-pin or use 2 pieces of plastic wrap, placing the dough disk in the center of 1 of the pieces of plastic wrap and the second piece on top of the dough disk, use rolling-pin and roll out the cookie dough about 1/2 inch thick.

*
Use a cookie cutter of your choice and cut out shapes in the rolled out dough. Repeat for each dough disk. Then add to the next dough disk the scraps from the first disk or (discard scraps of dough), continue this technic until all the dough is used.
Place cookies on a Silpat covered half baking sheet, 12 cookies per sheet.  For best results refrigerate the cut cookies on baking sheet before baking 5-10 minutes.

*
Bake the cookies in a pre-heated 425* F. oven for 8-12 minutes or barely starting to turn golden on the bottom; baking time depends on the size of cookie cutter used. Do Not Over Bake! If you do over bake they will become to hard. Cool on baking sheet.

Recipe from Tested Recipes Cookbook, Central Milling Company third edition, now out of print an old family cookbook

Glac’e Icing

Ingredients:

*1 pound of Powdered Sugar (3 and 3/4 cup)
* 6 tablespoons Whole Milk or (I used 5 tablespoons whipping cream 1 tablespoon water it worked extremely well) you can use other milk but you will have to use more powdered sugar

Instructions:

Whisk together in a stand mixer on medium speed, the milk and powdered sugar until smooth no lumps.
Now stir in the light corn syrup and extract.

*6 tablespoon Light Corn Syrup (1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons)
*1 teaspoon Vanilla extract, use clear Vanilla extract if you need a white frosting and if you want an Almond Flavor use an Almond extract and use it in the cookie dough too.

Use this recipe for glazing cookies and the piping of the outside of cookies. Piping helps contain the frosting while pipe filling in the center of the cookie.

Use a pastry bag for each color of frosting you want to use, small round tip for piping around the edge and then I used a plastic bottle with a tip lid to fill in the center of the cookies which had a larger opening.

Special Supplies:

**Bunny Cookie Cutter

**Pastry Bag with Small tip or Silicone Piping Bottle

Gel Colors:

*White Bunny

*Black, Eyes

*Brown Bunny

*Light Brown Bunny

*Copper, optional for bunny, non metallic

**White Non-Pereils Sprinkles (Round Tiny Balls), Tails

Enjoy!

Lindy