Back To School Cookie Puzzle Recipes

BACK-TO-SCHOOL COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg whites and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the cereal, nuts, coconut and oats. , Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake until golden browned, 7-8 minutes. Remove to wire racks.

COOKIE PUZZLES

Steps:

• Roll out sugar-cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick on floured parchment paper; trim into a rectangle. Slide onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F until golden, about 12 minutes. While the cookie is still warm, cut into quarters with a paring knife, then cut each quarter into puzzle pieces. Cool completely before separating. To decorate, mix 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar with 1 to 2 tablespoons water; brush on the cookies and sprinkle with colored sugar.

LOVE HEART COOKIE PUZZLE

Steps:

• For the cookie dough: Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C/350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and egg and beat again for 1 minute to combine, scraping down the bowl to ensure all of the butter mixture is incorporated.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients in 3 parts and mix until combined.
• Scrape the dough onto a work surface and slightly wet your hands. Knead the dough into a smooth disc and place between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Roll the dough out until it is 1/4 inch thick.
• Remove the parchment paper and use a heart puzzle cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes. If you do not have a heart puzzle cookie cutter, use a normal heart cookie cutter, then cut the heart down the middle with a knife to create a left and right side. Lift the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet and bake until they are just slightly golden around the edges, about 7 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
• For the icing: Add 1 cup of the royal icing mix to one bowl and the remaining 1/2 cup to a second bowl. In the first bowl with 1 cup of icing mix, create the flooding consistency royal icing. Add a drop of red food gel to the bowl and then, starting with 1 teaspoon of water, stir the mixture together with a spoon. Keep adding water to the bowl 1/2 teaspoon at a time until the mixture reaches the flooding consistency--when you drag a line through the icing mixture with a spoon, the line should disappear within 5 to 10 seconds. If the line disappears earlier, your mixture is too runny and you need to add a few tablespoons of royal icing mix to thicken the icing to the right consistency. If the line takes longer than 10 seconds to disappear, then your mixture is still too thick and you need to keep adding water 1/2 teaspoon at a time until you have the correct consistency. Once you have your red flooding icing, place a damp kitchen towel over the top of the bowl to stop it from drying out.
• In the remaining bowl, create the soft peak-consistency royal icing. Again, adding just 1/2 teaspoon of water at a time, stir the mixture together until it reaches a soft peak stage--when you lift the spoon out of the bowl and hold it in the air, the icing forms a soft peak on the end of the spoon. If the mixture is too runny and the icing falls off the end of the spoon, add more royal icing mix. If the mixture is too stiff, just add water 1/4 teaspoon at a time and mix together until it reaches soft peak consistency. Once you have the correct consistency, transfer about 2 tablespoons of the white soft peak icing to another bowl. Add red food gel coloring to the remaining mixture and stir to combine. If you would like to flavor any of the royal icing, add 1/4 teaspoon of your favorite extract, such as vanilla.
• Transfer the royal icing mixtures into separate piping bags fitted with number 2 round tip nozzles. Cover the ends of the piping nozzles with a damp tea towel at all times to stop them from drying out.
• With a cooled cookie in front of you, pipe a border of red soft peak royal icing around the edge of the cookie. Apply even pressure with your hand, and squeeze a thin line of icing along the outside of the cookie, joining the icing up at the end. Repeat on all of the cookies.
• Next, you need to flood the cookies. Pipe the red flooding royal icing inside the border you just created on each cookie, filling up the center of the cookies with icing. Use the piping nozzle to squeeze the icing into the edges to ensure each cookie is covered entirely. Allow to set for 10 minutes.
• Using the white soft peak royal icing, apply even pressure with your hand and decorate the center of each cookies with names, initials or messages. The cookies should be eaten the same day for the best taste.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat white sugar and butter together in a bowl using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until well mixed. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and stir into the creamed butter mixture alternately with the heavy cream until dough is evenly mixed. Chill dough in refrigerator, 2 to 3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll cookie dough on a floured work surface. Cut dough into strips about 2 1/2 inches long and about as thick as a pencil, forming one end into a point. Arrange "pencils" on the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 12 to 14minutes. Transfer parchment paper with cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Mix enough confectioners' sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl to form a thick icing. Divide icing among several small bowls and mix different colors of food coloring into each bowl.
• Decorate "pencil" cookies with colored icing so they look like colored pencils. Allow icing to dry completely.

PUZZLE COOKIE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and pepper. Beat to combine. Add eggs, and beat to combine, then beat in molasses. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture, and beat to combine. Divide dough in half, and shape into flattened disks, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpats. Generously flour a large piece of parchment, and roll one piece of dough out on the parchment into a 1/8-inch-thick rectangle, about 14 by 10 inches. Transfer to the freezer to chill for 15 minutes. Repeat rolling and chilling process with the remaining piece of dough.
• Remove one piece of dough from freezer. Using a large owl cookie cutter or our template, cut out a cookie and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Using a 3/4-inch cookie cutter cut out eyes from scraps. Using the small end of a 1/2-inch round pastry tip, cut out center of each eye, creating rings. Place on cookie. Return cookie to freezer to chill, about 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. The scraps can be rerolled once.
• Bake until edges are golden, about 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife, cut cookies into desired puzzle shapes. Leaving intact, transfer baking sheets to wire racks until cool.
• Divide royal icing among four bowls, and tint one batch black, one yellow, and one blue; leave one white. Decorate cooled cookies with royal icing using the #1, #3, and #4 round Ateco tips. Separate the puzzle pieces once the cookies are decorated, but before the icing hardens.