Fruit Jello Cookies

This recipe came to me in an insert packaged with a Rycraft cookie stamp.  The stamp was given to me as a gift almost twenty years ago.  I don’t use it much any more but I do use the recipe quite often.  Kids love the bright colour and fruit flavour of these cookies and I like the fact that the recipe is inexpensive to make and easy to work with.  The dough rises very little, making it excellent for use with cookie cutters.  I can vary the colours and shapes of the cookies according to the occasion.

To make Fruit Jello Cookies, you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1-3 oz. package of fruit flavoured Jello (Use the sweetened kind.  You need the sugar in the packet for the recipe to work.)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Cream together the butter, sugar, and Jello mix.  Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract to make a smooth batter.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir them into the butter mixture to make a firm dough.

Form the dough into balls (I use a small ice cream scoop for this) and place them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Press the cookies flat, leaving them about 1/4 inch thick.  (I use the bottom of a drinking glass—lightly floured—to do this.)

Bake the cookies at 375ºF for 6 to 8 minutes. 

Remove the baked cookies to a sheet of brown paper and allow them to cool completely.

If you wish to, you can ice the cookies.  I use Royal Icing for this because it dries hard, making the finished cookies easier to store.

To make Royal Icing, you’ll need:

• 3 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 2 egg whites
• 1 Tablespoon of lime juice (or lemon juice if you’re not making lime flavoured cookies)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat them at high speed until the icing becomes light in texture and forms stiff peaks.

If you’re not going to use the icing immediately, store it in a covered container in the fridge or freezer.  If the icing is too thick, thin it with a little more juice or some water.

Spread the icing on the cookies.  The icing dries quite quickly so, if you’re adding sprinkles or coloured sugar, apply them immediately.  

I like to add just a few sprinkles to tops of my cookies.  My husband was helping me last night and he takes a much more direct approach, dunking the iced side of the cookie right into the sprinkle bowl.   I’ve always said my guy is really just a big kid   ;^)   and kids, being kids, do tend to prefer this more-is-better approach.  Either way, the cookies are unlikely to last long enough to foster a debate about which decorating style looks better.

Note:  If you plan to roll the cookie dough out and use cookie cutters, add an extra 1/4 cup of flour to the dough.  Refrigerate the dough for about 1/2 hour, then roll it out between sheets of waxed paper.  Rolling this way prevents the dough from picking up extra flour so you can roll it out multiple times without it becoming too tough.
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This post is linked to Mix It Up Monday hosted by Flour Me With Love