Easter Rainbow Funfetti Cookies

Easter Rainbow Funfetti Cookies

Easter Rainbow Funfetti Cookies

Chocolate Easter Bunnies and Eggs

This weekend, I baked Rainbow Funfetti Easter cookies using a recipe from Sweet Sugarbelle (see link below). It is my go to vanilla sugar cookie recipe I always make with the added sprinkles. I made Peeps, several different Bunnies, Bunny Tails, Bunny Paws, Chicks, Eggs, Carrots, and Lambs. I doubled this recipe and saved half of the Coconut dough I used for the Bird's Nest Cookies. I also saved some of the Chocolate dough from my Panda Cookies, so I ended up with a whole lot of cookies. I made a lot of Royal Icing as well and worked on these cookies for two days.

Peeps

Peeps

Yield: 3 Dozen Cookies (Depending on cutter size)

Ingredients
1 cup, 2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened and each stick cut into cubes

1 1/2 cups Confectioner's/Powdered Sugar

1 Large Egg

2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

2 3/4 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Coarse Salt

1/2 cup Rainbow Jimmies

Bunny Tails and Paws

Bunny Tails and Paws close-up

Directions
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a hand held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed; 1-2 minutes. Do not overmix.

Scrape sides of bowl with spatula and mix for a 10 seconds.

Add eggs, and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Do not overmix.

Bunny Tails

Bunny Tails

Scrape sides of bowl and mix for 5 seconds.

With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture and incorporate.

Add rainbow sprinkles and mix until incorporated.

The dough is ready when it begins to clump around paddle attachment.

Bunny Tails

Carrots

Cut in half and roll dough into 2 balls, cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 1-2 hours or overnight or for 30-45 minutes in the freezer if pressed for time.

Take half of the dough leaving unused dough covered with plastic wrap in fridge until ready to use.

Heat oven to 400°F.

Use two sheets of parchment paper with dough in between and roll with rolling pin until desired thickness is reached.

Bunnies

Bunnies

Dip cutters in flour, shake off excess, and make shapes with cutters.

Place onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Place cookie sheets in freezer for 10-15 minutes. The cookies hold their shape when you do this.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until the edges have slightly browned. My cookies baked in 9 minutes.

Wait 5 minutes before transferring cookies on cooling racks to complete cooling.

Decorate once cookies have cooled completely.

Bunny Paws

Large Batch Royal Icing
Ingredients
8 Egg Whites

8 teaspoons Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed

12 cups Powdered/Confectioners' Sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon Clear Vanilla Extract

Chicks

Directions

In a large bowl, sift powdered sugar, set aside.

In a bowl, add egg whites.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg whites and lemon juice.

Transfer to stand or hand held mixer with paddle attachment and mix on high for 1-2 minutes.

Add vanilla extract and mix for 5-10 seconds.

With mixer speed on low, slowly add sifted sugar and beat on low until smooth.

Easter Eggs

If needed, you may add 1 teaspoon of water at a time until you reach the right consistency. Watch the Joy of Baking (link at the end) video for both Flooding Consistency and Piping Consistency Royal Icing. If you prefer a recipe using Meringue Powder, it is also available at this link.

I separated the white icing I needed, and transferred to squeeze bottles.

For the rest of the icing, I separated them in plastic containers with lids according to how many different colors I needed.

I used AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color in Turquoise, Teal, Fuschia, Pink, Yellow, Orange, Green, and Chocolate Brown. Use 1-2 drops at a time until you reach the color desired.

Keep the containers covered until you are ready to color.

I transferred the icing immediately into squeeze bottles.

If the royal icing hardens due to exposure to air, use a spray bottle and spray a little bit of water and shake bottle well holding the tip with your finger. Test the icing consistency on a paper towel before decorating the cookie.

Lambs

Lambs close-up

I outlined the cookies first, waited 1/2 hour and then filled them.

Use a paintbrush or cookie stick to reach edges, and use tip of cookie stick or a toothpick to pop any air bubbles.

If you are using sprinkles, confetti, nonpareils, sugar pearls, dragees, etc... add them over wet icing.

I also use edible markers to draw over some of the cookies to make more precise lines with the border icing.

Let cookies dry overnight. This is essential so the icing does not stick together when you stack them or place in cookie tins or gift bags.

If you are baking and it is humid, allow more time for the cookies to dry.

For the Rainbow Funfetti Cut-out Recipe, visit:
http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2015/07/rainbow-funfetti-cutout-cookie-recipe/

For the Royal Icing Recipe and Video Tutorial, visit:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys