This is a big holiday weekend. Passover begins at sunset on Friday and Easter is on Sunday. Both are occasions for gathering with friends and family. While celebrating with these Easter Sugar Cookies , take a moment to send thankful, supportive thoughts or prayers to the military families whose loved ones are deployed. Holidays apart are especially difficult. Our military families sacrifice so much.
Another care package is in route to Afghanistan on Monday Box Operation “Smiles and Thanks from Home”. This is the second time I am sending an Easter box to the desert, and I've learned that April is already warm there.
It may be sacrilegious to create an Easter basket without chocolate, but warm weather and chocolate don’t go well together in a care package.
There is still plenty of candy included in this parcel (there is even a rabbit), just no chocolate rabbit. When it gets really hot, even these non-chocolate candies can melt.
Part 1 Care Package Contents: I lined the box in wrapping paper with a geometric design in spring colors.
The box is filled with Easter cheer in the form of candy (jelly beans, Life Savers, gum, Tootsie Rolls, and Sixlets) in bags, boxes, and smiling plastic eggs. For Easter fun there are puzzle books and a puzzle cube, decorations, and a non-chocolate stuffed rabbit. (To read about the many uses soldiers have for stuffed toys, read this post from Operation Gratitude. They have sent out more than one million care packages, each including a stuffed animal.)
Part 2 Circle Sugar Cookies: Both of these Easter Sugar Cookies designs are easy. The polka dots are quick to make. This would be a great design to use on egg shaped cookies. My polka dotted circles are more like Easter balls. The other cookies are either a dog hiding in a pile of cotton balls, or a sheep. A sheep is a more appropriate design for spring and Easter, so let’s call these sheep. Creating the sheep( adapted from lilaloa.com) is a bit more time consuming. Using one batch of chocolate dough I made two dozen cookies (12 of each design) and had 6 cookies left over to freeze for later.
Decorating the polka dot cookies requires 1 batch of faux royal icing. If you are making only a dozen cookies, half a batch of the icing would probably be enough, but I am always worried about running out, so I make a full batch and refrigerate any left overs for another project. The icing should be thinned to the consistency of white glue. Put ½ cup of white icing into a decorating bag with a small circle tip (I used #4). Divide the remaining icing evenly into small bowls, one for each color desired. Mix a few drops of food coloring into each bowl, then transfer the colored icing into decorating bags with small circle tips (I used #5).
Using colored icing, outline a circle on top of a cookie, then fill in. Immediately use the white icing to make dots on top of the colored icing. The white dots will sink into the colored icing leaving a smooth surface.
Decorating the sheep cookies requires 1 batch of faux royal icing, a consistency thick enough to hold its shape when dripped. Remove ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons of the icing into a small bowl. Use a tiny drop of black food coloring to make it gray, then thin the gray icing to the consistency of white glue. Place ½ cup of the gray icing into a decorating bag with a small circle tip (#4). To the remaining gray icing, add additional food coloring to create black icing. Place the black icing into a decorating bag with a very small circle tip (#2). Place the remaining thick white icing, in a decorating bag with a small circle tip (#4).
Slightly below the center of the cookie, use the gray icing to outline, then fill in, an elongated “U”. Use a tweezer to add black sprinkle pearls for eyes. To make the nose, use black icing to pipe two tiny dots at the bottom of the “U”. Use the tip of a toothpick to drag each dot downward to create a heart shape. Use the black icing to make small oval ears.
The wooly body of the sheep is made with the thick white icing. Starting on the outer edge of the cookie, pipe dots of varying sizes around the cookie. Continue piping around the cookie (3 or 4 times) until the body is filled.
Always air dry iced sugar cookies overnight to allow the icing to harden before packing. I used plastic wrap to double wrap each cookie. The wrapped cookies were then placed snuggly in a column in freezer weight ziplock bags.
Part 3 New Recipe: Italian Easter Cookies (Taralli Dolce Di Pasqua) are the new recipe included in this care package. Taralli are lightly sweet vanilla cookies encased in crisp citrus icing. Topped in brightly colored nonpareil sprinkles, these cookies will arrive in Afghanistan, Easter ready. They are firm cookies and stay fresh for munching or coffee dipping for at least a week.
Wishing everyone at home or away, a safe and peace-filled holiday.
Joyce @ My Stay At Home Adventures
These are so cute! Thank you for sharing it with us at Funtastic Friday.
The Monday Box
Thanks, Joyce!
April J Harris
Love all these cookies, Wendy, they all look delicious! The sheep are so cute, and although I'm not that great at decorating, I think I could definitely make the circle sugar cookies. Love the Italian Easter cookies too - they look yummy. Thank you so much for sharing this post with us at Hearth and Soul.
Colleen
I love these little guys...so cute! They'd be fun to do in pink and white too!
Frugal Hausfrau
What a great assortment. Love the lambs. Thanks for linking with us on Throwback Thursday!
Mollie
Petra @ CrumblesAndKale
These are soo sweet, I would have a problem eating them looking at those cute faces!
Tricia @ Saving room for dessert
How did I miss these adorable little sheep???? They are so gorgeous - you really have a wonderful talent. Hope you had a lovely Easter / Passover holiday . The polka dots are beautiful too!
The Monday Box
Tricia, you are truly too kind, but I do appreciate your support! 🙂 There are so many blogging cookie artists whose work makes my jaw drop. I will never be that talented, but I hope my cookies show that even if you aren't an artist you can have fun playing in icing. I DO have fun. The best part (besides that the cookies actually taste good) is that the soldiers always tell me that the cookies make them smile. 🙂 I hope you and your family had a lovely Easter!
Marjie @ Home Again Jiggety-jig!
What a wonderful thing you do! I love all the details you've added. I'll be sharing this on my facebook!
The Monday Box
Thank you, Marjie, for your kind words and for the Facebook share! I have fun creating the care packages and imagining the reactions of our deployed heros when the box arrives. 🙂 Its a small "thanks" and a piece of home.
J @ A Hot Southern Mess
Haha! A dog hiding in cotton! That made me laugh so hard! I didn't think that at all! I thought, "oh, what cute sheep cookies!". The easter eggs are so cute too with the polka dots! Thanks for the laugh! 🙂
The Monday Box
I truly am glad you saw the cookies as sheep first, J! 🙂 My husband thought they were dogs...and then I couldn't stop seeing a dog peaking out of the white puffs! My objective is to find EASY decorating designs so that even bake-a-phobic people can make fun homebaked care packages. I am a cookie decorating novice myself. 🙂
Monica
Love all this Easter cheer! Too bad about the chocolates but I think the soldiers will understand. The cookies are fantastic, Wendy, and these packages are just so thoughtful. You are very good, my friend. : ) Keep up the great work!
The Monday Box
Thanks, Monica! It is always sad when warm weather causes a chocolate shortage in the desert. I will try to work around it (chocolate chips inside of cookies seem to be ok) so that no soldier will go into chocolate withdrawal. 😉 I don't know if you are quite accurate in your evaluation of my efforts (though I ALWAYS appreciate your support and encouragement). I wouldn't say I am very good, but I AM enthusiastic. 🙂
Reeni
What a fun care package - so colorful and uplifting. It makes me happy just looking at it. The cookies are super cute and the sheep are adorable! This is going to make somebody's day. They're going to love it.
The Monday Box
Thanks, Reeni! The military care packages are fun. I have fun attempting the cookies, and Soldier B. and his buddies have fun trying to figure out what the crazy baking lady will send them next! 🙂 The soldiers get a piece of "home" and know they are appreciated.
Ashley
I hope you have a wonderful holiday Wendy!! I always love these posts and seeing what you send each time - I just really love that you send these packages. Everything looks wonderful as always!
The Monday Box
Thanks, Ashley! I remember that your husband served in the military, so you understand first hand how meaningful a little taste of home can be. I had no idea before i started this "operation" how meaningful my thank you packages would be! i hope you have a wonderful Easter! 🙂
Theresa @DearCreatives
That is super awesome and love the cookies! Someone is going to love their care package!!
The Monday Box
Thanks, Theresa! I'm always crossing my fingers that Soldier B. and his buddies will smile and know they are appreciated. 🙂
Liz
Everything looks so cute and delicious... great job! I was so curious what you used for the sheep's wool. The faux royal icing is so glossy. really nice. My boys would go crazy for these 🙂
The Monday Box
Thanks, Liz! The sheep's wool was the whole reason I chose this design.:) I think the texture is so much fun! I learned (the hard way) that the consistency of the icing is key. If it is too liquidy, each dot just blends into the ones next to it leaving no texture at all.