Kai-lan Cookie

To make these delicious Kai-lan cookies for your bake sale, you'll need to print out the Kai-lan Cookie Template.

Ingredients
2 sticks butter
2 tbsp cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup superfine sugar
Finely grated zest from one orange (about 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 1/2 tbsp pasteurized egg whites
6 tbsp fresh orange or lemon juice or water
1 box (16 oz.) confectioners' sugar
Brown, black, and red food coloring gel (Wilton)

Optional: In lieu of icing to decorate the details of the face, you can use thin black licorice strings, black icing gel, jelly beans; round candies such as Reese's Pieces or M&Ms, fruit leather, fruit chews, and small sugar flower decorations

You'll also need
2 cookie sheets
Parchment and wax paper
Rolling pin
Kai-Lan cookie template
Small plastic knife
Wire rack for cooling
7 small plastic resealable bags
Toothpicks and/or a small offset spatula
Containers with a tight seal, such as GladWare® Containers, for cookie storage

Directions

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar, orange zest, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the whole egg and vanilla and beat until well incorporated. Sift the flour into the bowl and mix on low until it comes together into a dough. Divide dough in half, shape into 2 rectangular discs, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm but not hard, about 1 hour.
   
   
2. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
   
   
3. Working with one disk of dough at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of lightly floured parchment or wax paper to a thickness of 1/8-inch. Use the Kai-lan Cookie Template and a small plastic knife (your child can help) to cut out as many shapes as possible. If the dough starts to get too soft to work with, slip the dough, still on the parchment, onto a baking sheet and pop into the freezer until it's firm again. Transfer the dough pieces to the prepared cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Save the scraps. Repeat with the other disk of dough, then combine and re-roll the scraps.
   
   
4. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the cookies are golden and firm, about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
   
   
5. While the cookies are baking, prepare the icing. Combine the pasteurized egg whites and juice or water together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until frothy. Beat in the sugar until smooth and thick. While you're not working, keep covered with plastic wrap or a damp towel to prevent drying.
   
   
6. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the white icing into a resealable bag. Now you will mix six colors of royal icing and spoon into separate plastic resealable bags. Use 1 tablespoon of the royal icing and tint pink with the red food coloring and a spoon. Use 3 tablespoons for each color and tint red, dark brown, and black with the food coloring and a spoon. Divide the remaining royal icing in half. Tint one half of the remaining icing black, thin slightly with a few drops of juice or water, and spoon into a plastic resealable bag. Tint the remaining half pale beige with the brown food coloring and thin slightly with a few drops of juice or water.
   
   
7. Spread the face area of the cookies with the pale beige icing in a thin layer and let dry at least one hour.
   
   [Hint: Piping the icing on will give you the smoothest and cleanest look but you can also spread it with a small offset spatula or butter knife.]
   
   
8. Snip a very small corner (1/8-inch) from the bags with the tinted icings. Pipe hair with the thinned black icing and the eyes with the white icing. Then pipe the dark brown irises of the eyes. Pipe the outline of the eyes, the eyelashes, the eyebrows, pupils, nose, and mouth with the thicker black icing. Pipe the pink tongue and red flowers. Pipe the white reflection in the eyes. Use toothpicks to help spread or direct the icing. Let cookies dry completely before stacking.
   
   [Hint: Alternately, use candy to decorate the cookies: you can use thin black licorice strings for the hair; black icing gel (found in tubes in the baking section of grocery stores and craft stores) for details like nose, mouth, pupils, eyebrows, eyelashes and outlining the eyes; jelly beans for the eyes or mouth; round candies such as Reese's Pieces or M&Ms for the irises of the eyes; cut pieces of fruit leather or rolled out fruit chews for her tongue and flowers in her hair. You may also be able to find sugar flower decorations at craft stores to put in Kai-lan's hair.]