Frosted Animal Cookies

This recipe is one that I am very excited to post. When I received my March issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray I instantly bookmarked this recipe. I knew I wanted to make it ASAP but I didn't have the cookie cutters. I turned to my trusty friend (eBay) and within a week I had a set of 12 farm animal cookie cutters.

Now let me say... this recipe claims to take 50 minutes, not including chilling and cooking time, and unless you are a professional or have help I think that is a gross underestimate. This took me awhile but it was well worth it and highly recommend these. They are really tasty and make a great treat.



Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
One 11.5-ounce bag white chocolate chips
2 tablespoons multicolored nonpareil sprinkles

Directions:

1- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla, scraping the bowl as necessary. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients on low speed.

2. Shape the dough into 2 balls. Place each ball between 2 sheets of wax paper and roll out to a 10-inch round. Slide onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

3- Preheat the oven to 350. Using animal cookie cutters, cut the dough into cookies, gathering the scraps and rerolling until all the dough has been cut. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment paper lined sheets. Bake until edges are golden-brown, 15-20 minutes. Mine took 15 and they were perfect. Let cool.

4- In a small saucepan, melt the white chocolate over low heat, stirring, until glossy. Using a small offset spatula, spread the chocolate on the cookies and transfer to a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet. Top with the sprinkles. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.

**Tip- roll the dough thin. When the dough is rolled too thick the animals puff and are hard to recognize!