If you’ve been following my blog, you might remember the Deviled Cakes I made a few years ago. They’re still one of my very favorite creations, but unfortunately the egg shaped baking pan is impossible to find now. So I decided to try the same idea with easy shortbread cookie dough.
Finding plastic eggs that open horizontally wasn’t that easy either, but they’re out there!
It wasn’t quite as I envisioned. I had hoped the shortbread dough would be strong enough to hold its shape in the oven with a hole in the middle for jam or ganache.
It wasn’t.
However, I filled that hole with a solid chocolate egg and baked it flat-side down, and—voilà! The chocolate egg supported the cookie dough and added a fun surprise center. Sweet!
A little white chocolate was spread smoothly on the cookie and topped with yolk-colored buttercream and red sugar sprinkles.
I’m getting this post in just under the wire, with two days until Easter. It was sort of an impromptu decision, which translates into: “I didn’t feel like cleaning house today”. This was much more important, right? If you don’t have time to make them this Easter, they’d be cute for a spring tea or luncheon, too.
| Deviled Cookies | Print |
- COOKIES:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon milk
- 2 cups flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter, increase to ½ teaspoon)
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 24 small solid chocolate eggs
- BUTTERCREAM ICING:
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 3½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- food coloring
- *****
- You will also need:
- Plastic eggs that open horizontally
- White chocolate candy melts - about 1 cup
- Red sugar
- COOKIES:
- In a large bowl, combine butter and powdered sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Add egg yolk and milk, and blend well. (If using a stand mixer, you may want to switch to the dough hook at this point.)
- Add the flour, salt, and cornstarch and mix until it turns into a smooth, stiff dough. At first it will seem very crumbly, but it should come together. If it doesn't, add a little milk, a few drops at a time.
- Chill dough for 1 hour.
- Heat oven to 350 F. Cover baking sheet with silpat or parchment.
- Lightly grease or spray the inside of one egg half and dip in flour. (The grease will help the flour stick.)
- Press chilled dough firmly into egg, level with the top.
- Press one unwrapped chocolate egg into widest half of the egg as deep as possible. Using your hand or a knife, level the dough in the egg. It's okay if a little chocolate is showing.
- Squeeze the sides and ends gently to release the egg flat side down onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat, placing eggs at least 1 inch apart.
- Bake 14-15 minutes, or until the flat side is beginning to turn light golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet on a rack. (If you need to use the pan for the remaining eggs, slide silpat or parchment onto the rack.)
- Once eggs are cool, melt white chocolate in the microwave at 15 second increments, stirring often, or in a small pan on lowest heat. Use a knife or offset spatula to spread melted chocolate smoothly on each egg. Run your finger around the top edge for a clean look.
- Make buttercream: Beat soft butter until creamy. Slowly add powdered sugar (and a little of the cream if it's too thick to mix), beating well. Add vanilla and remaining cream and beat well until fluffy. Add food coloring. I used mostly yellow, with just a tiny amount of green and orange to achieve an egg yolk color.
- Pipe buttercream onto each cookie and sprinkle with red sugar.
Solid chocolate egg ready to be pressed firmly into the dough.
Lay flat to bake. (I used a Silpat, but parchment works too.)
Baked. I flipped them over so you can see their underbellies.
Spread melted white chocolate on the flat side.
Sigh. I didn’t get a photo of piping the buttercream. You’ve got this, right?
Happy Easter, everyone.
Lorinda
Do you just sit in the kitchen all day thinking up clever edible ideas? These are brilliant!
Ah, Mary Rose. What would I do without your encouragement? Most of my ideas come when I’m driving to town and back, but they don’t always turn out the way I think they will . . . which is half the fun!
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