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What
to do:
- Preheat
oven to 350 degrees F.
- Into
a large bowl measure flour, baking powder, and salt. In
another large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat
sugar, and margarine or butter until creamy. Reduce mixer
speed to low. Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Beat
mixture until blended.
- Beat
in flour mixture just until blended. Divide dough into
four equal pieces. Wrap each piece with plastic wrap and
refrigerate 30 minutes (dough will be soft).
- While
dough is chilling, group candies by color and place in
separate heavy-duty self-sealing plastic bags. Place one
bag on towel-covered work surface. With a meat mallet or
rolling pin, lightly crush candy into small pieces, being
careful not to crush until fine and powdery. Repeat with
remaining candy.
- When
dough is chilled, place one piece of dough on a
well-floured surface. With a floured rolling pin, roll
dough 1/4 inch thick. Use floured cookie cutters to cut
dough or, if using a cookie pattern, trim around the
outside edge with a knife (let the grown-up do this) to
form cookies from the dough.
Cut
as many as possible. Save the dough trimmings, form into
a ball, then roll flat again to cut more
cookies.
If
you want to hang the cookies as decorations, cut a small
round hole at the top of each cookie (or the top of one
of the star point). A drinking straw makes a good hole
cutter.
- Line
a baking sheet with foil. Use a pancake turner to lift
cookies from floured surface, placing each on foil. With
mini-cookie cutters, canape cutters, or knife, cut one or
more small shapes from each cookie. Reserve cut out
pieces for re-rolling. Place some crushed candy in
cutouts of each cookie.
- Bake
10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven
and cool cookies completely on baking sheet. If desired,
cut lengths of fishing line and loop through small hole
at the top of cookie. Hang cookie as decoration.
If
you do not have a star cookie cutter, here are a "star"
shaped one and a more realistic "sun" shaped one you can
print and cut out to use as patterns.
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