‘Tis the season to keep an eye out for Peter Cottontail bearing all sorts of goodies. When he comes to town, he brings Easter baskets full of candy and cookies. So why not combine them in advance?
Include kids in the fun, or make these yourself to set the festive mood when they come downstairs in the morning.
Either way, these treats are going to be a huge hit. And the mint handles add a bit of seasonal and fresh whimsy to the cookie baskets
Easter Basket Cookies with Mint Handles
Yields 12.
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ (1 ½ lb package) refrigerated sugar cookie dough
Multicolored sprinkles, or solid colored sprinkles
½ cup vanilla frosting
½ cup shredded coconut
Green food coloring
1/3 cup jelly beans
12 long sprigs of mint
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease mini-muffin pan cups with the oil.
Use an ice cream scoop (approximately 1 tablespoon) to form balls of dough. Roll completely in sprinkles and place in prepared mini-muffin tin.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them after 12 minutes to make sure they don’t get too brown. (Remember, they’ll firm up as they cool. It’s better to have them a little soft than a little hard for this recipe.)
Once the cookies are done and while they’re still soft, poke an indention of the middle of the cookie.
Let the cookies cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes, and then place on a rack to cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling, place the coconut in a resealable plastic bag and sprinkle with green food coloring. Massage the coconut in the bag. Add additional food coloring if the coconut isn’t the correct shade of green.
Set the coconut aside.
Once the cookies are cool, place a dollop of frosting in the center of each. Top with coconut, and add jelly beans.
To assemble the mint handles:
Remove very top mint leaves, so there is a bit of stem visible. Bend the mint over the basket, and balance the stem in the coconut and frosting.
Recipe and Photos by Launie Kettler.
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