Painted Egg Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until light. In a small bowl, stir the soda, salt and flour together. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed ingredients until well mixed. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
• Divide the dough in half. Wrap half in plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut cookies with a cookie cutter of any design and place on ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
• Put 1 teaspoon corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon water into each of 4 different custard cups. Tint each of the four mixtures with food coloring. Stir each well.
• Paint the unbaked cookies before baking using a small paintbrush. For more fun, press cookie dough through a garlic press to make "hair" for gingerbread figures.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Remove the cookies with a spatula and cool on wire rack.

Steps:

• Make the cookies: Sift flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a large bowl.
• Beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, then vanilla. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out cookies using a 5-inch lamb cookie cutter, rerolling scraps once. Transfer to a baking sheet, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Bake until edges just start to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
• Decorate the cookies: Transfer icing to a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe an outline of icing around the edges, then "flood" each cookie with more icing to cover. Sprinkle with sanding sugar. Let cookies dry completely before tying a pink or blue ribbon around each lamb's neck if desired.