Our First Easter At Lake Wynonah

Italian Easter Cookie Cutouts

1 1/2 C Sugar
5 C Flour
3 Sticks Butter = 1 1/2 C.
6 Eggs
4 1/2 teas. baking powder
1  pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of vanilla

Beat together remove from bowl and continue to knead in more flour until it is no longer sticky.  Roll out between two sheets of parchment paper and use your favorite cookie cutters, peel away excess dough and slide parchment onto a cookie sheet. bake at 350 degrees for about 5-7 minutes or until bottom of cookie is golden brown.
Allow cookies to thoroughly cool before glazing.

You can use cheap synthetic artist paint brushes to decorate cookies. Or you can just dip the cookies in the glaze using a wide mouth bowl.

Glaze: In a small bowl, stir together 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 tablespoon milk, 1 teasp. of almond extract a drop or two of your favorite food coloring. For Easter I like pastel, so I use very little coloring.

Royanna's Delicious Pickled Eggs

Royanna's Delicious Pickled Eggs

Hard Boil 2 dozen eggs.  Click here to learn how to hard boil eggs to perfection.
Peel the eggs set aside to be added to beet juice later.Hard-boiled eggs are easiest to peel right after cooling. Cooling causes the egg to contract slightly in the shell.

To peel a hard-boiled egg: Gently tap egg on countertop until shell is finely crackled all over. Roll egg between hands to loosen shell. Starting peeling at large end, holding egg under cold running water to help ease the shell off.

Combine
2 Cups Vinegar
2 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Water
Bring to simmer to dissolve the sugar, add 
1 teasp. Allspice
1 teasp. Cloves
1 teasp. Cinnamon
2 cans of baby beet juice

Stir in to dissolve the spices into the liquid mixture. Add 2 cans of baby beet juice reserving beets to be added later (Royanna prefers Shoprite brand baby beets.)

Bring this mixture to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, turn off heat remove from stove to cool to room temperature. 

Once cooled add eggs and beets to a 1 gallon jar stir to completely have eggs submerged into the liquid, cover tightly. 

Store in the refrigerator until served. 

You may also add slivers of onion to the beets. I boiled mine in the beet juice mixture to make them soft.