Rocking Horse Cookies
These precious ponies look like they came right from Santa’s workshop. The 3D treats stand up, and they even rock!
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
¹ ₂ cup packed brown sugar 1 large egg, room temperature 1 tsp. vanilla extract
2¹ ₄ cups all-purpose flour
¹ ₂ cup baking cocoa 1 tsp. baking soda
ASSEMBLY
1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet
chocolate chips 40 chocolate-covered graham
cracker cookies
4 cups confectioners’ sugar 4¹ ₂ tsp. meringue powder
3 to 4 tsp. warm water
Paste food coloring 20 Riesen’s chewy chocolatecovered caramels
1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until easy to handle, at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 31/2-in. rocking-horse-shaped cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheets, flipping half of cutouts so they face in the opposite direction (2 cutouts will form each rocking horse).
3. Bake until set, 7-9 minutes.
Cool 2-3 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
4. Flip cutouts so their flat sides are up. Melt chips; stir until smooth. Spread the top of a graham cracker cookie with some chocolate; attach to body area of cutout. Repeat with remaining cutouts. Let stand until set. Set aside remaining chocolate.
5. For icing, in a large bowl, beat confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder and water on low speed just until combined. Beat on high until stiff peaks form, 4-5 minutes.
Tint as desired with food coloring. Keep icing covered with a damp cloth between uses.
6. Flip cutouts right-side up; decorate as desired with icing.
Let stand at room temperature for several hours or until icing is firm.
7. To assemble horses, reheat chips until melted. Pair 2 cutouts so they align, forming a rocking horse.
8. Place a caramel candy on a work surface in front of you; brush the long sides with chocolate and attach to the back side of one of the horse cookies at the rocker. Brush the graham cracker cookies on 2 matched cutouts with chocolate. Press matching cutouts together, forming a rocking horse.
9. Gently place rocking horse on its side; let stand at room temperature for several hours or until firm. Repeat for remaining horses.
1 COOKIE 521 cal., 21g fat (13g sat. fat), 34mg chol., 226mg sod., 83g carb. (58g sugars, 2g fiber), 4g pro.