Pinata Cookies

Now how impressive are these! Your party will be the talk of the town when your guests see these!

These multi-striped, burro piñata sugar cookies are frosted together in sets of 3’s. The middle cookies have hollow centers so that you can fill them with a secret stash of mini M&M’s. That way, when you break open or bite into the cookie, the M&M’s come spilling out. Just like a real piñata.

What you’ll need…

Find a plastic container similar in size to your donkey/burro piñata cookie cutter. In a later step you’ll be placing the layered sugar cookie dough in here to form the cookie log shape you’ll need for later steps.  Line the container with plastic wrap for easy removal of the dough later.

You will also need a few different food coloring colours including black for your cookies. Gel food coloring works best for intense colors.

How to…

Once you have made your cookie dough, split it into five, even-sized balls and one smaller ball (this will be the black).  Add food coloring to each of the dough balls until desired color is achieved.  The next step will be to layer the dough in the plastic container.

Split all of your colored dough balls in half (except the black) and begin layering the dough in the container, starting with the black dough on the bottom of the container.  Alternate the colors so that you end up with two layers of each color by the time you’re finished.

Cover the layered sugar cookie dough and freeze for 4 hours or overnight.

Remove the dough from the container and unwrap from the plastic.

Cut the dough into slices of approximately 1/4-inch wide.  Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.  Immediately after you take them out of the oven, use your burro cookie cutter to cut the cookie shapes.  Make sure you line up the bottom of the cookie cutter with the black layer of the dough to get the effect of hooves.

For the middle cookies in each set, cut off the ears and legs, and cut out the center where the M&M’s will go.

Try to work quickly, because as the cookies cool, they are more likely to crumble or break. Let them cool on the baking sheet before you move them and remove the excess, outer cookie.

To assemble, take the first piñata cookie and lay it upside down so that the baked bottom is facing up.  You will need to make simple frosting to use to glue each of the three parts of the cookie together.  Outline the center of the piñata body with frosting.   Put the middle cookie on top of the frosting glue and then add the candy.  Add another layer of frosting.

Place the opposite-cut piñata cookie on top (so that the pretty side is facing out.) Let these sit & harden for at least 30 minutes before you stand them upright.

Source: pinterest.com