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Ball Drop Piñata Cookies

3 Ratings
2 Comments
  • Prep 2 hr 0 min
  • Total 3 hr 0 min
  • Servings 10

Festive candy filled cookies that look like the Time Square Ball. MORE + LESS -

Hungry Happenings Hungry Happenings
December 18, 2014

Ingredients

4
cups all purpose flour, plus 1/4 cup more if needed
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1
cup butter, softened
1
1/2 cups sugar
2
large eggs
1 1/2
teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4
teaspoon almond extract
12
ounces white confectionery coating (Candy Melt wafers)
Silver luster dust
1
tub Betty Crocker™ Whipped white frosting
Edible glitter, decorating sugar, sprinkles
4
ounces white modeling chocolate or fondant
Gold luster dust
Candy to fill cookies

Steps

Hide Images
  • 1
    Mix flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside.
  • 2
    Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Mix until well combined. Add dry ingredients and stir just to combine. If the dough is sticky, add more flour.
  • 3
    Roll out dough to 3/8th inch thickness. Cut 10 round cookies using a 3 1/4 inch round cutter. Remove excess dough, set on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Cut a smaller hole using a 2 3/4 inch round cookie cutter out of the center of each dough round. Remove the smaller dough circle, so you have 10 dough rings.
  • 4
    Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
  • 5
    Roll the remaining dough out to 3/16th inch thickness, and cut 20 circles using the 3 1/4 inch cutter, re-rolling as needed.
  • 6
    Set cookies on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  • 7
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • 8
    Bake one tray of cookies at a time for 10-12 minutes until dry around the edges. Allow cookies to cool completely on the baking pan.
  • 9
    Re-size a Times Square Ball Coloring Page to 3 1/4 inches creating your template. Print it out and set it under a piece of parchment paper.
  • 10
    Heat the white confectionery coating on high in the microwave for 20-second increments, stirring after each, until melted. Pour into a squeeze bottle. Pipe over the times square ball template. Carefully move the template and repeat. Allow the candy coating to harden then brush with silver luster dust.
  • 11
    When cookies have cooled, frost 10 of them with white frosting. Set one candy time square ball on top. Sprinkle edible glitter, decorating sugar, or sprinkles over top, if desired.
  • 12
    Pipe a thin bead of candy coating around the bottom of each cookie ring. Set one ring on the 10 un-frosted cookies. Fill with candy.
  • 13
    Pipe a thin bead of candy coating around the top of each cookie ring and top with a frosted cookie.
  • 14
    Roll out white modeling chocolate. Cut out numbers from 1 to 10. Brush numbers with gold luster dust. Attach to each cookie using a bit of candy coating.
 

Nutrition Information

 No nutrition information available for this recipe
More About This Recipe
  • These ball drop cookies bring a piece of Times Square right into your home. 

    We've been celebrating New Year's Eve with a ball dropping in Times Square in New York City since 1907. That's a lot of countdowns! The ball has changed significantly over the years; the most recent design is an icosahedral geodesic sphere made with over 2,000 triangle-shaped Waterford™ crystal panels lit by over 32,000 LED lights. It changes colors as it descends 141 feet in 60 seconds. Millions watch from the street and on television for a communal count down to the New Year.

    When I was asked to design a cookie to reflect the ball drop, I knew it would be overly challenging to make an actual replica, so I used a simple pattern resembling the ball and used it as a guide to create these very festive-looking New Year's Eve cookies. Each cookie is actually three cookies attached together and filled with candy. They're beautifully decorated to look like the changing colors of the Times Square Ball.

    To make these cookies, roll out sugar cookie dough to 3/8-inch thickness. Cut 10 round cookies using a 3 1/4-inch round cutter. These thick cookies will become a ring, which will be filled with candy, so they need to be thick enough to fill with whatever candy you like.

    To make the rings, I found it easiest to set my cookie dough rounds on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Then I placed the 3 1/4-inch round cutter around a cookie, and used a 2 3/4-inch round cookie cutter to cut a hole out of the center. I first removed the center dough, then the small cutter, then the large cutter. My cookies stayed perfectly round.

    Roll the remaining dough out to 3/16-inch thickness, and cut 20 circles using the 3 1/4-inch cutter, re-rolling as needed. Set cookies on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. You may have a small amount of dough left over to make some cookies to snack on.

    Refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking each tray of cookies at 350ºF for 11-13 minutes.

    While the cookies are baking and cooling, you can get started with the decorations. 

    To make the design, re-size a Times Square ball coloring page to 3 1/4 inches to create your template. Print it out and set under a piece of parchment paper. 

    Heat the white confectionery coating on high in the microwave for 20-second increments, stirring after each, until melted. Pour into a squeeze bottle.

    Pipe over the Times Square ball template, following along the lines.

    Carefully move the template and repeat to make 10 total. Allow the confectionary candy coating to harden, then brush with silver luster dust.

    When your cookies have cooled, frost 10 of them with white frosting. Set one candy Times Square ball on top. Sprinkle edible glitter, decorating sugar, or sprinkles over the top if desired.

    Pipe a thin bead of candy coating around the bottom of each cookie ring. Set one ring on the 10 unfrosted cookies. Fill with candy.

    Roll out white modeling chocolate. Cut out numbers from 1 to 10. Brush the numbers with gold luster dust.

    Attach the numbers to each cookie using a bit of candy coating, then pipe a thin bead of candy coating around the top of each cookie ring and top with a frosted cookie.

    Serve your cookies on New Year's Eve.

    Everyone can crack them open at midnight to reveal their candy surprise inside!

    Beth happily spends her days creating fun food and handmade chocolate and enjoys sharing step-by-step tutorials with her readers on her blog Hungry Happenings. Be sure to check out her profile to see all the other festive foods she's made for Tablespoon.com.

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