Pink Ribbon Cookies

Source: The Pampered Chef

This variation of our All-Occasion Cookies recipe is decorated to support the Help Whip Cancer campaign.

1 pound (4 sticks) butter or margarine, divided
    (do not use vegetable oil spread)
1 (18.25 ounce) box devil's food cake mix
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Decorator's Icing
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon meringue powder (see Cook's Tip)
5 to 6 tablespoons warm water
Red food coloring

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In Small Batter Bowl, microwave two sticks of the butter on HIGH 1 minute or until melted. Slice remaining butter into 1/2-inch pieces; add to melted butter, tossing to coat. Allow butter to stand 3 to 5 minutes or until softened.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine cake mix and flour; blend well using Stainless Steel Whisk, breaking up any large lumps.

Whisk butter until smooth and free of lumps. If necessary, microwave butter an additional 10 to 20 seconds or until creamy and pourable. Do not melt completely. Pour butter all at once into dry ingredients, scraping butter from batter bowl. Mix until dry ingredients are incorporated and dough is smooth.
Turn dough out onto well-floured Cutting Board. With floured hands, gently knead dough, adding up to 1/2 cup flour as needed to form a firm dough. Divide dough into three equal portions. Shape each portion into an 8-inch disk. Generously flour Cutting Board again. Roll one disk of dough out evenly to 1/8-inch thickness using Baker's Roller. Cut cookie shapes using Scalloped Bread Tube; transfer to flat Baking Stone, 1 inch apart.

Bake cookies 15 to 17 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 3 minutes on baking stone; remove to Stackable Cooling Rack. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, combine confectioners' sugar and meringue powder in Classic Batter Bowl. Add 5 tablespoons water; mix well. Mix in additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time, to form a thick icing that will flow into a smooth pool with a rounded edge.

Place 1/3 cup of the icing into a separate small bowl; tint, one drop at a time, with red food coloring until desired shade of pink is reached.

To decorate cookies, pipe a white icing border around edge of one cookie; fill in with white icing until smooth. Immediately pipe a pink ribbon onto center of cookie. To sharpen corners of ribbon design, drag corners out slightly using Cake Tester. Repeat with remaining cookies. Let stand about 1 to 2 hours or until icing dries completely.

Yield: about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Nutrients per serving: (1 decorated cookie): Calories 280, Total Fat 15 g, Saturated Fat 8 g, Cholesterol 45 mg, Carbohydrate 35 g, Protein 3 g, Sodium 280 mg, Fiber less than 1 g

Cook's Tips: Meringue powder (which contains pasteurized egg whites) is packaged in cans and can be found in stores that carry cake decorating supplies. Icing that has meringue powder in it will become smooth and hard once it has dried.

To pipe icing onto cookies, place a small, resealable plastic food storage bag inside Measure-All Cup. Pour white icing into corner of bag. Twist top of bag; secure with a Twixit! Clip. Cut a small tip off corner of bag to allow icing to flow through. Repeat with pink icing.