Ingredients

The following ingredients have 17 Servings
  • 2 cups all purpose flour (plus more if needed)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup butter (softened slightly)
  • 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • yellow food coloring
  • 1 cup candy
  • 2 tablespoons yellow royal icing or melted candy coating

Instruction

  • Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, vanilla, almond extract, and yellow food coloring.
  • Add dry ingredients and stir just until combined. If the dough is sticky, add a small amount of flour.
  • Lightly dust your work surface or non-stick mat with flour.
  • Roll the cookie dough out to between a 1/16 inch and 1/8th inch thickness, cut 17 or 18 circles using a round cutter, and drape circles of dough over each mound on your pan and smooth with your fingers. Freeze pan for 15 minutes.
  • Heat oven to 325 degree oven.
  • Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes.
  • Roll out the remaining dough and cut out 17-18 sunshine shapes. Set them on parchment lined baking sheets, refrigerate for 15 minutes, then bake for 10-14 minutes until the tops look dry.
  • Cool cookies completely.
  • Fill each half sphere cookie with candy, pipe on some yellow royal icing or melted candy coating around the top edge of the cookie, set a sun shaped cookie over top, turn the cookies right side up and allow to dry completely.
  • Attach two candy eyes using icing or candy melts, then draw on smiles using black food coloring markers.