It’s finally spring – though in Pittsburgh, spring can mean 70 degrees or 30 degrees from day to day. Despite this, birds are chirping and trees and flowers are blooming, so even the colder days are more bearable. And the days are getting longer, so I’ll take it.
These speckled egg cookies are a cute springtime treat, and there are a few different options for speckling material. They’re a basic sugar cookie, frosted and dusted with chopped up chocolate chips, but you could easily use Oreo crumbs (and I will the next time I make anything speckled).
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 8 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the frosting and decoration
- 3 tablespoons shortening
- dash of salt
- 1 egg white
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract, optional (you can make this frosting with just vanilla)
- 1 – 2 teaspoons water, if necessary
- Blue liquid food coloring*
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips, very finely chopped so they are almost like dust
*Gel food coloring, even when used in only one drop, yields a very intense color. Liquid food coloring will give you better pastel shades.
Preparation
Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add vanilla and about half the flour mixture, beating until combined; beat in remaining flour.
Note: if your dough is too crumbly, you can add just a bit of water or another 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla.
Divide dough in half and knead each just slightly. Form each half into a disc and place on plastic wrap; cover with another piece of plastic wrap and roll out to flatten into about 1/4 inch thickness. This helps later on, so you don’t have to work your dough as much when rolling and re-rolling after cutting, making your cookies more tender. Refrigerate until just barely firm, about 20-30 minutes. If you refrigerate overnight, let your dough stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes before you roll it out.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from fridge and roll to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into egg shapes and place on baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until just golden at the edges. Cool on a wire rack completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, combine shortening, egg white, salt, and one cup powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat on low speed until combined, then increase speed to medium, then high, and beat for 1 minute. Add remaining powdered sugar, beating for about 1 minute. Add extracts and beat; if your frosting is too thick, add 1-2 teaspoons of water. You want a smooth consistency that’s easy to spread.
Tint your frosting light blue (go easy and use liquid food coloring, as noted above) and frost each cookie. Sprinkle with chocolate chip dust; allow frosting to set before storing between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen, depending on the size of your cookie cutter.
amy bakes in the 'burgh 