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