Ingredients: 1/2 cup Crisco Shortening 1 1/4 Cups firmly-packed brown sugar 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 3 tbsp. Milk 1 tbsp vanilla 1 egg 1 3/4 cups flour 3/4 tsp salt 3/4 tsp baking soda 3 chocolate kisses or chocolate candy-coated pieces Icing: 2 1/2 cups icing sugar 1/3 cup Crisco Shortening 2 tbsp milk 2 tsp corn syrup Food coloring
Preheat oven to 375. Line three baking sheets with foil. Grease with shortening For cookies, combine shortening, brown sugar, peanut butter, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended. Divide dough into three equal parts. Working with 1/3 dough at a time, break off 8 equal pieces of dough. Roll into balls. "Hide" a chocolate kiss in one of the 8 ball, molding dough with fingers around the chocolate kiss. (This is the prize.) Arrange balls on baking sheet almost touching in a 6 inch circle. Flatten balls slightly with fingers. Repeat with remaining balls to make two more circles. Bake one baking sheet at a time at 375 for 9 to 11 minutes, or until set. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cool 5 to 8 minutes on baking sheet before removing cookie on foil to counter top to cool completely. For icing, combine icing sugar, shortening, milk and corn syrup in bowl. Beat at medium speed until smooth. If to thick, add additional milk, a few drops at a time. It to thin, add additional icing sugar. Divide icing into half. Place ½ into a large bowl. Divide other half into three small bowls. Add yellow food color to one small bowl until desired shade is achieved and mix well. Add equal amounts of blue and yellow to make green. Add equal amounts of blue and red to the third small bowl to make a purple icing. Place colored icings in a small resealable plastic bag. Seal. Cut tiny tip off corner of each bag. Frost each cookie with white icing using spatula or knife. Pipe colored icings decoratively over each "King cake." Makes: 3 "King cake" cookies
Easy No Cook Mardi Gras Candy
Ingredients: 1/3 c. Soft butter 1/3 c. Light corn syrup 1/2 t. Salt 1 t. Flavoring 3 1/2 c. Sifted confectioners sugar Large bowl Wooden spoon Wax paper Cookie sheet Recipe makes about 1 ½ pounds of candy
Measure all ingredients into large bowl Stir with wooden spoon until stiff. Divide dough into thirds and add 3 drops of food coloring of your choice.* Let your child knead with their hands until dough is smooth Roll into balls and press lightly with fork to make fancy butter mint. Refrigerate 30 minutes until firm
Mints tastes better second day if you can keep everyone from eating them. Cover and wrap in plasticwrap and keep in refrigerator.	*Mardi Gras colors Yellow Green = yellow and blue food coloring Purple = red and blue food coloring

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Last update February 28, 2000
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