They are here! King Cakes hit the shelves on January 6 and will be here until Mardi Gras. When I was a kid that was the only time throughout the year that you could find a king cake. Now a few places change the color of sprinkles on top and sell them all year. Even though they are not as scarce, king cakes are in my top 3 favorite desserts. It’s right up there with bananas foster and bread pudding.
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These cookies are a unique twist on king cakes and take the flavor of a king cake and put them into a cookie! I drizzled the frosting on and sprinkled them with traditional purple, green and gold sprinkles. This morning I had one with my cup of coffee and it was delicious!
King Cake Cookies {Recipe}
: Dessery
A twist on a classic king cake. These are sure to be a hit with kids (and adults)!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1¾ cup sugar, divided
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 Tbs honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp lemon extract
- 2 Tbs ground cinnamon, divided
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cream of tarter
- Icing:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup warm water (may add more if needed)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In large bowl, cream butter, 1¼ cups sugar, and ½ Tbs ground cinnamon until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg yolks, honey, vanilla and lemon extracts.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cream of tarter and gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
- In a shallow bowl or baking dish (I used an 8x8 Pyrex dish), combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. (Depending on how much you like cinnamon you may adjust your cinnamon and sugar mixture to taste.)
- Shape a heaping tablespoon of dough into a 6" log and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
- Loosely coil into a spiral shape and place onto greased baking sheet about 1" apart.
- Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon and sugar.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.
- For the icing:
- Slowly add the warm water, vanilla extract, and lemon juice to the powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
- Place the icing into a piping bag (or a sandwich bag) and cut off just the tip to pipe the icing onto the cookies.
- Sprinkle with purple, green, and gold sprinkles! (decorate as desired)
Notes
These cookies are delicious without the icing and sprinkles can be added prior to baking to create a different look.
Also, next time I make these I will be adding chopped pecans in the center of the spirals prior to baking.
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How many cookies does this recipe make?
Hi, after decorating the cookies does the icing stay wet or does it become dry? I’m asking for packaging reasons. Thank you!
These cookies were delicious. My batter was rather dry so I added some water and another egg yolk. Any other suggestions for making the batter more moist? I will absolutely make them again.
Let’s chat about these cookie and people who make comments about online recipes: they drive me nuts. Comments such as ‘It’s a good recipe. My family really liked it. I just made a few changes. I changed this, this, this, and this. Otherwise, it was great.” What drives me batty is that after the changes it’s not even the same dish! LOL! So I’m writing one of those comments. These cookies are great. I just changed……them to Valentine’s Day cookies!!! Pink icing instead of purple/green/gold! Ha Ha Ha! My family LOVED these cookies for Mardi Gras. My co-workers went BONKERS! for them as Valentine’s Day cookies. I mean, bordering on a cookie riot.
Thanks!
Wow!! Taste great
How many cookies does this recipe make?
Will these freeze (before decorating)?
Yes! I have frozen them and king cake before!
I made these for my youth group today and they were IN LOVE. Thank you for your awesome recipe!
These look delish and colorful too!!Thank you for participating in the Thursday Favorite Things hop. xo
I’ve never heard of these but the sure do look good!