06 Apr Recipe: Donna Hay’s Brown Sugar Easter Egg Cookies

Easter is just around the corner, and you know what that means – it’s time to dust off those cookie cutters and get baking! We’ve got the perfect recipe for you and your little ones to enjoy: Brown Sugar Easter Egg CookiesBrown Sugar Easter Egg Cookies

Ingredients

• 185g unsalted butter, chopped
• ⅔ cup (150g) caster (superfine) sugar
• ⅓ cup (80g) firmly packed brown sugar
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 2½ cups (375g) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk, extra

Royal Icing

• 250g pure icing sugar
• 30g egg whites
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• few drops of desired food colouring

Method

1. Place the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the flour, egg and extra egg yolk and process until a smooth dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Roll each piece out between sheets of non-stick baking paper until 5mm thick. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or until firm.
2. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Remove the top sheets of baking paper from the dough. Using various sized egg-shaped cookie cutters, cut shapes from the dough, re-rolling and re-refrigerating as necessary. Place the eggs on lightly greased baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 16 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on trays for 10 minutes before transferring onto wire racks to cool.
3. To make the royal icing, place the sugar and egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk on low speed until smooth and glossy. You will need thick icing for decorating and thin icing for dipping. Add enough lemon juice to the bowl and whisk until a desired consistency is achieved. Add your choice of food colouring and mix to combine. Remove half the mixture and set aside for decorating. With the remaining mixture, add enough lemon juice to achieve a thin dippable icing mixture and mix to combine.
4. To decorate, dip each egg cookie in the thin icing mixture. Allow to dry on a wire rack removing air bubbles with a skewer. Place the thick icing mixture in a piping bag and decorate as desired. Allow to dry on a wire rack before serving.

Image: Con Poulos