Dragon cookies

Ingredients for 20 servings:

• 1 egg white, very fresh
• 250 g powdered sugar, sifted, 400 g (depending on the amount of egg whites)
• 1 pinch ascorbic acid (or 1 dashes lemon juice)
• Food coloring, black or 1 – 2 charcoal tablets
• 500 g flour
• 2 eggs, VERY FRESH!
• 1 egg yolk
• 160 g sugar, or cane sugar
• 2 packs of vanilla sugar (bourbon)
• 250 g butter, room temperature
• ½ pack of baking powder

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

great eye-catcher for the autumn festival in kindergarten

Lightly beat the egg whites and ascorbic acid powder with a whisk (!), then gradually stir in the sifted powdered sugar. Don’t beat too vigorously, so as not to incorporate too much air. The icing is firm enough when it collects in the center of the whisk and any peaks that form when dabbed on don’t collapse again. The firmness can be easily regulated by adding either spoonfuls of sugar or drops of water. Rule of thumb: always add a little more sugar than you think you need. When the desired consistency is reached, immediately place plastic wrap on the surface (!) of the icing and set aside for 30 minutes. DO NOT refrigerate! Mix the flour and baking powder, stir in the remaining ingredients, and knead into a smooth dough. Roll out in portions on baking paper (flour the rolling pin if necessary) and cut out the dragons using the dragon stencil *(make sure the “roof” is slightly lower than the “body”). Mine were about 13 cm long. To make holes in the dragon, use a slightly thicker straw to pierce the bottom tip and twist gently. The dough will collect in the straw and be easy to push out again later. Don’t pierce too close to the edge so it’s not too fragile later. Place the dragons on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, not too close together and not too close to the edge (so they don’t become crooked), and bake at 200°C (preheated) until golden brown. This takes about 8 to 12 minutes, depending on your oven. Remove from the oven before they brown and let cool. I used four baking sheets. Whip the icing again and color it black with a good tablespoon of charcoal powder (or food coloring, which is the same thing). Turn two freezer bags inside out and, if you have one, push a fine piping nozzle through one corner of each. If you don’t have one handy, simply snip off a tiny corner. Pour the icing into separate portions, suck out the air, and seal with a bag clip. To decorate: draw eyes with white icing and immediately add a dab of black icing for the pupil. If peaks form, just wait a few seconds. The icing hardens quickly in the air, and you can gently flatten the tip with your finger. It’s best to make a few test eyes on baking paper; they’re great for keeping almost forever and using to decorate other pieces of art (I recommend doing exactly this with leftover icing, by the way; you always need candy eyes and they’re quite expensive if you buy them! The same goes for letters, numbers, etc.). For the nose, put a dab of white icing in the center and immediately press a Smartie onto it. Draw a mouth with white icing, too. For the dragon’s tail, cut a piece of string in half and tie two gummy bears inside, leaving a little space between them. Pull one end through the hole and secure with a double knot. Don’t pull too tight, or the strings will break. After a few minutes, the icing will have hardened and the cookies will be stackable. The ascorbic acid, like the sugar, preserves the egg whites. If you still think the risk of salmonella is too great, you can make the icing with dried egg whites – but I don’t have a recipe for that, and we’ve never had any salmonella problems! Depending on the size of the stencil, this amount is enough for 25-30 cookies. The sugar eyes keep forever, ideally in an airtight container and, above all, dry, so not in the refrigerator! Have fun with sparkling children’s eyes and delicious dragon cookies!