Who doesn’t love a surprise when they bite into a cookie? (Unless it’s a raisin. Or is that just me?) We’re nearing the month of May, and I’ve started to round up a few ideas for a simple Cinco de Mayo party. While I do love having candy in all the things, some mamas might want a chance to make something fun, but a little bit healthier. These sugar cookies are a bit like a piñata: Break them open and find out what’s inside.
Ingredients:
- butter, softened: ½ cup
- sugar, granulated: 1 cup
- eggs: 2
- vanilla: 1 teaspoon
- flour: 3 cups
- baking powder: 1 teaspoon
- salt: ½ teaspoon
- frosting, store-bought: ⅛ cup
- your kids’ favorite cereal: 1 cup
Directions:
Step 2: Add in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and mix well.
Step 3: In a separate bowl, add the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. Separate into 3–4 small slabs of cookie dough.
Step 4: To add color, add 2 drops of assorted food coloring to each slab of dough, and knead gently until the dough is slightly marbled.
Step 5: Place each slab on a sheet of lightly floured wax paper and cover with another sheet. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to ¼” thick. Stack the slabs on top of each other and chill in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
Step 6: Once the dough has chilled for 45 minutes, quickly remove one slab at a time and use a metal cookie cutter to cut out your shapes. You’ll need two matching cookie shapes to create one piñata. Place each shape on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 7 minutes.
Step 7: Once they’ve chilled a bit more to firm up, bake for 9 minutes in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven.
Step 8: It’s time to hollow out the cookies. Use an apple corer and gently carve out a bit of the center of each cookie. Be careful not to go completely through the cookie. You just wanted to carve a small compartment.
Step 9: Fill half of each cookie with Fruity Cheerios, your favorite colorful cereal, or even candy. Pipe a small outline of frosting on each cookie, and place two cookies together to create a sandwich or “piñata.”
I love how the marbling turned out on each cookie. So fun.
And when you break each one open, there’s a little fruity surprise inside.