Hello Kitty Cookies

So McDonald's is giving away Hello Kitty baking toys with the Happy Meals this month. My daughter got the star/heart/apple cookie cutter set last week in a cute chef Hello Kitty head shaped case. Today she got measuring spoons with a chef Hello Kitty head keychain. (Yes, we eat McDonald's every couple of weeks...) I asked her if she would like to make some Hello Kitty cookies with her new tools! Of course, she said yes!

Hello Kitty Cookies

Since it was an impromptu baking session, the butter was still frozen solid from the freezer. A good trick to get frozen butter to soften up quickly is to grate it! Sugar cookies are super easy to make. Mix butter & sugar together until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in flour and baking powder. Refrigerate for an hour before rolling out the dough and cutting shapes.

Happy Meal toys!

My daughter helped to "tamp" (she doesn't say "s" for some reason) Hello Kitty shapes out of the cookie dough using the lid from her cookie cutter case... yep, we didn't even have a proper Hello Kitty cookie cutter! I just had to trim off the chef's hat and shape the top bit of her ribbon using a sharp knife. 

Freshly iced Hello Kitty sugar cookies

Soon, we had freshly baked Hello Kitty cookies ready to be decorated with royal icing. I think 15-second icing is the perfect consistency for outlining and flooding cookies. But this time around, I accidentally added too much water, resulting in 9-second icing. It ran off the edge of the cookie and made mess, which I tried to wipe off as best as I could. 

too cute to eat!

My daughter was really happy with her cookies! She couldn't wait to take a bite of Hello Kitty!