DIRECTIONS:

COOKIES

Step 1

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Step 2

In a large bowl of a standup mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on high speed until completely smooth and creamy, about 1 minute more. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again until combined.

Step 3
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

Step 4
Divide the dough into two equal parts. Roll out each disc of dough to about 1?4 inch thickness on lightly cocoa dusted parchment paper. Place the rolled-out doughs of parchment on a cookie sheet and place them in the refrigerator to chill before cookie cutting. Can stack the doughs with parchment in between to conserve space.

Step 5
Using an egg shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Can re-roll excess dough and make more cutouts with the scraps. Use cocoa powder to prevent dough from sticking.

Step 6
Bake on parchment for 9-10 minutes, until edges are set. Rotate trays halfway through if necessary.

Step 7
Cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack and allowing to further cool before decorating.

ICING

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Add sugar and lemon juice and beat for 1 more minute. If the icing is too thick, add more lemon juice. If the icing is too thin, add more powdered sugar. 

ICING THE COOKIES

Step 1
Divide icing up into 3 (or however many colors you want!) small bowls. Add a very small amount of a different color food coloring to each bowl and mix well. Less than a drop is needed to make pastel colors. Pink, blue and green were used in this recipe.

Step 2
Put each icing into a pastry bag with a tiny tip, and make a border along the edges of the cookies. Flood the inside with icing and fill to the outside border. Continue doing this with all the colors.

Step 3
Allow icing to set for an hour.

SPECKLE THE COOKIES

Step 1
In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa and vanilla extract until a thin, watery slurry forms.

Step 2
Using a small paint brush, dip the tips of the brush in and pull back the bristles to splatter the cookies with the cocoa to create a speckled look. Continue doing this until all your cookies are speckled!