Ingredients

The following ingredients have 40 Servings
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup superfine sugar
  • 3 ½ tablespoons whole milk
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 4 to 4 ½ cups powdered sugar
  • green food coloring
  • red/pink food coloring
  • yellow sprinkles

Instruction

  • Preheat oven to 375˚F.
  • In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer cream together butter and sugar.
  • Add milk, egg and vanilla and continue to mix. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
  • In another mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
  • Pour flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix until evenly blended and a dough forms.
  • Divide dough into two discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out 1 disc of dough to ⅛ inch thickness. Using a 3 inch cactus cookie cutter punch out 20 cactus cookies.
  • Transfer cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet, 1 inch apart. (you will need multiple baking sheets or will need to do it in batches).
  • Bake cookies for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies barely begin to brown around the edges.
  • Remove from heat and transfer onto a cooling rack.
  • Royal icing: In a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, whisk together egg whites until light and frothy. Begin adding sugar, ½ cup at a time until fully incorporated. Continue to beat mixture until light, fluffy and shiny, 7 to 8 minutes.
  • Divide the royal icing into 3 bowls and color two of the bowls with green food color and color one with the red/pink food coloring.
  • To decorate: Fill a piping bag with one of the green royal icings and fit it with a small round tip and a coupler. Pipe a border of the royal icing around each cactus cookie and allow icing to dry.
  • Add 4 to 5 tablespoons of water to the other batch of green icing, to loosen. Once the icing border dries, ‘flood’ each cookie with the loose, green icing, popping any air bubbles with a toothpick and allow icing to dry.
  • Once the icing dries, change the small round piping tip to a small star piping tip from the piping bag with the stiff, green icing. Pipe lines onto each cactus cookie for texture and allow icing to dry.
  • Fill a piping bag with the red/pink royal icing and fit it with a small star tip. Pipe a small ‘flower’ onto each cookie and finish with a yellow sprinkle in the center of each flower. Allow cookies to dry and serve.
  • The cookies will keep fresh in an airtight container for 1 week.