Make Critter Cookies

By Beth D. Stevens

Celebrate all that spring has to offer, right down to the tiny crawlers and flyers. An array of ladybug, butterfly, and long wiggly caterpillar cookies can be a festive substitute for a party cake -- and a great group activity. Adults can start and end the process by slicing and baking, while the kids can take their time decorating. And just like the critters, the cookies will be gone before you know it.

What You Need:

• 1 roll slice-and-bake sugar cookie dough
• Frosting ingredients:* 2 tablespoons softened butter, 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract, dash salt, 2 tablespoons milk, 2 cups powdered sugar, food coloring
• Snack-sized self-sealing plastic bags
• Small candies (like mini M&Ms)
• String licorice

(*You may substitute with instant frosting.)

What to Do:

• Cookies: Freeze the roll of cookie dough for 30 minutes. Remove wrapper and slice roll into even circles, about 1/4 inch wide.
• Frosting: Combine softened butter, vanilla, salt, and milk in a mixing bowl. Add the powdered sugar and beat well. (If needed, add more milk or powdered sugar until the consistency is right for spreading.) Place two generous tablespoons of prepared frosting into three different baggies.
• Add food coloring to each baggie. (Be sure to tint some frosting red for the ladybugs.) Leave remaining frosting in the bowl white. Close baggies and knead with your hands to mix color into frosting (a great job for kids). Clip off a corner of each frosting baggie. Squeeze frosting out of baggie corner to create lines and designs, or use a table knife to spread the frosting.

Creating the Critters:

• Caterpillar: Bake 16 circles on a cookie sheet as directed on package. Remove cookies from pan and cool completely. Frost four cookies with each color. While frosting settles, cover a piece of cardboard with foil (about 24 inches by 8 inches). Line up cookies on the foil board in a wiggly caterpillar shape, overlapping edges slightly and alternating colors. Add candy eyes, nose, and mouth on "head" cookie. Squeeze remaining colored frosting from bags to print the names or initials of party guests on each cookie. One clever 8-year-old was particularly excited to use the caterpillar body parts to spell out her last name!
• Ladybugs: Cut dough circles in half. Place two halves next to each other on a cookie sheet with one pair of ends spread apart into a "V" shape (wings). Roll a half circle of dough into a small ball and place it where the wings meet (the head). Bake and cool as directed. Spread red frosting on wings. Add round black or brown candies for spots on the wings. Attach small candy eyes to the head with a drop of frosting.
• Butterflies: Cut dough circles in half. Cut a small notch from each curved side to make the wing's shape. Cut some of the remaining dough circles into three or four narrow strips (body pieces). Place one strip between a half circle on the cookie sheet. Bake and cool as directed. Squeeze different colors of frosting dots and swirls onto the butterfly wings or make designs with the candies. Spread a single color on the body. Add string licorice pieces for antennae. (12-year-old Ryan L. turned his butterflies into stingrays and 10-year-old Rachel's looked like aliens!)

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