In celebration of the Summer Olympics, this week my almost four-year-old daughter, Sofia, and I are creating a bunch of Olympic themed crafts. Today kicks off our first craft, Gold Medal Cookies. 
Since Sofia turned three, we pretty much bake together once a week. Now, that was no problem when we lived in the same neighborhood with my 13 nieces and nephews. They were always willing and ready to consume whatever we made. But now that we've moved to Boston, we no longer have an army of children ready to chow down. To rectify the situation (and to prevent me from binging on baked goods every week), we coincide our baking with a play date so that we can share our creations with friends. For a play date this week we decided to make some sugar cookies. After stamping out a dozen flowers, we thought it would be fun to cut out some simple circles (we used a drinking glass as our cookie cutter) and create some Olympic Gold Medal cookies.
Our go-to sugar cookie recipe bakes up soft cookies, so we cut the little slits for the ribbon after the cookies baked and cooled. We used a sharp paring knife to do it. In retrospect, for a neater cut, we probably should have made the slit prior to baking. Then we painted each cookie with gold luster dust mixed with some lemon juice. The lemon juice basically evaporates, leaving the color but not the taste. We used this pearl dust, but I wish we used a a luster dust like this one.
I let the cookies dry overnight before adding the chocolate. Once dry, I simply melted chocolate and piped it on the cookies. I refrigerated the cookies before adding the ribbons to ensure the chocolate wouldn't get all over the ribbons and/or my daughter!
Below you'll find the recipe and instructions to make these little treats. Hope you enjoy making and eating these as much as we did!
Sugar Cookie Recipe:
Adapted from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle's Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
3 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or any flavoring of your choice)
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 to 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter
Instructions:
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter until creamy. Add the sugar, and cream until fluffy. Add the egg and flavoring. Finally, add the dry ingredients. Make sure not to over mix the cookie dough when adding the dry ingredients. Only mix until combined.
Allow the cookie dough to rest for a few minutes on the counter top (do NOT refrigerate). Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out circles, and bake for 8 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven. These cookies are meant to be soft, so I take them out of the oven before they turn brown. Yields about 2 dozen cookies using a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter.
Ingredients and Tools for Decorating the Cookies:
Sharp paring knife
3 to 5 tablespoons lemon juice
Gold luster dust
Paint brush that is used ONLY for food applications
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Piping bag or a plastic sandwich bag
Ribbon cut to desired length
Craft Glue
Once the cookies have cooled completely, using a sharp paring knife, cut out a slit to accomidate the ribbon. Then mix the lemon juice with enough luster dust to create a rich gold color. Using the paintbrush, paint the color on to the cookie. Allow the cookies to dry completely.
Melt the chocolate, and place it into a piping bag. Pipe on the Olympic rings and a border. Allow the chocolate to dry completely (I like to refrigerate it). Insert the ribbon, and glue the ends of the ribbon together to create a necklace.
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