This afternoon we baked Echidna Cookies – cookies that look like echidnas! If you are unsure what an echidna is, it is an egg-laying mammal that is native to Australia and is somewhat similar in looks to a hedgehog. To find out more about echidnas, check out http://wildcare.org.au/species-information/echidnas/.
Seven students joined me to create these delicious treats that (sort of) resemble the echidna!
Everyone agreed that the cookies looked adorable and were very tasty too – they were all eaten very quickly!
If you want to try making these at home, here is the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup margarine
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup ground almonds
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup cooking chocolate
1 Tbsp coconut oil
½ cup chocolate sprinkles or flake
½ cup slivered almonds
Optional decorating ingredients: desiccated coconut, 100’s & 1000’s, writing icing, edible silver balls, etc…
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 160°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla.
- Combine flour, ground almonds and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
- Shape 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball; pinch the dough to form a nose and feet. Repeat until all the dough is used up and place each cookie 2 inches apart on the prepared tray.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely.
- In a small saucepan, melt chocolate and coconut oil over very low heat, constantly stirring until smooth.
- Holding a cookie by the head, spoon chocolate over the back leaving the face uncovered. Allow any excess to drip off. Place on the baking paper and immediately add sprinkles/flake or slivered almonds for the spikes, and add any other decorations for the eyes, tongue and feet.
- Place in the fridge to set, then eat them all! 🙂
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