Lion Cookies

Today's post is the first of three. Here, I'll introduce the basic recipe for icebox cookies. Then, in each of these posts, I'll list the changes necessary to make the different flavored animals cookies.

Over winter break, I was flipping through The ATK Family Baking Book, and I noticed a recipe for icebox cookies. The book showed different shapes that could be made with the dough, like swirls and checkerboards. That got me thinking: what about some other shapes, like animal shaped cookies? Well, today I'll post about the chocolate and custard icebox lions (plus a Domo alternative), and in the next two posts, I'll post about two other animal icebox cookies.

Vanilla Icebox Cookies

adapted from The ATK Family Baking Book


2 1/2 cups flour (will vary in dough modifications)
16 tbsp (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract.

Cream the butter and the two sugars together. Mix in the egg yolks one at a time. Then, mix in the vanilla extract. [STOP here if you plan on modifying the dough.] Add the flour to the mixture and mix just until a dough forms and no flour streaks remain. Split the dough in half. Place each half on a piece of plastic wrap and roll into a log, wrapping each log in the plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes. [RESUME here with modified dough.]

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Once the dough is firm, remove from the refrigerator. Slice 1/4" thick slices from the dough logs and place the cookies onto the baking sheets. [Add sprinkles for modified dough.] Chill cookie slices for 10 minutes. Place in the oven to bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, then move the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Makes 4 dozen cookies

Lion Icebox Cookies

icebox cookie dough (with modifications below)
2 tbsp custard powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
black nonpareils

Make the vanilla icebox cookie dough until it says STOP (for modifications). Split the mixture that you have so far in half and set aside for now. Get two separate bowls. To each bowl, add 1 cup + 2 tbsp flour. To one of the bowls, add 2 tbsp custard powder, and mix. To the other bowl, add 2 tbsp cocoa powder, and mix.

Now, take the mixture that you split in half earlier and add 1/2 of it to the custard powder bowl and 1/2 of it to the cocoa powder bowl. Mix each of the bowls so that you end up with one custard icebox cookie dough and one chocolate icebox cookie dough.

Place the custard dough on a piece of plastic wrap. Roll it so it forms a log with a 1 1/4" diameter. Sandwich the chocolate dough between two sheets of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to roll it out to a rectangle as long as the custard dough log and wide enough to fully wrap around the log (it'll be about 3/8" thick).

Wrap the chocolate dough around the custard dough log. Use your fingers to smooth out the crease formed. Cover the entire log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Now go back to above instructions to where it says RESUME. Except, after the log is sliced, place 2 black nonpareils on each cookie, near the center of the cookie slice, as the eyes, then bake.

Decorating Lion Cookies

white chocolate
semisweet chocolate
custard powder

Melt the white chocolate and mix it with custard powder until it's the same color as the custard part of the cookie. Use a toothpick to draw two small triangles in the chocolate part of the cookie to form ears.

Melt the semisweet chocolate and use a toothpick to draw a nose (a thick, short horizontal line in the center of the cookie with a little vertical line underneath). Then, use the toothpick to draw the mouth underneath the nose, two curvy lines. Let the chocolate dry.

P.S. Domo Icebox Cookies
Since many of you out there wanted an alternative Domo cookie that wasn't a sandwich cookie (like the TKOs), here you go. The good thing about this alternative is that this dough is easier to work with than the TKO dough. (And for whoever doesn't like chocolate... you can add brown food coloring to the dough instead of adding cocoa powder).

icebox cookie dough (with modifications listed below)
3 tbsp cocoa powder
red food coloring
white chocolate
semisweet chocolate
black food coloring (oil based, for candy)

Make the vanilla icebox cookie dough until STOP. Take the mixture, split it in 4, and set it aside for now. Get two separate bowls. In one of them add 1 1/2 cups + 3 tbsp flour and 3 tbsp cocoa powder. Mix. Then add 3/4 of the mixture you previously divided. Mix until a chocolate dough forms. In the other bowl, add 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp flour. Then, to this bowl, add the last 1/4 of the mixture you previously divided. Mix and add some red food coloring until you have a red dough.

To shape the dough, follow the shaping instructions from the Domo TKO post. Once the dough is shaped into a log, chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Now go back to the vanilla icebox cookie instructions where it says RESUME. In order to decorate the Domo icebox cookies, follow the decorating instructions in the Domo TKO post.

P.P.S. The next post will be dedicated to the purple cookies on the right in the above picture. Any guess to what animal it is?

P.P.P.S. Hmm... after staring at these photos for a while, I'm wondering if I should have added whiskers or not? If you're planning on making these, perhaps some chocolate whiskers can be added...