Friend Face Cookie Pops

I can't believe it's that time of year again...another school year completed!  Just like in past years, both of my children have been blessed with amazing teachers and wonderful friends.  My son still has another 2.5 weeks of school left but my daughter finished her second year of preschool last week.  As a special treat and a way to celebrate the end-of-the-year, I decided to make these personalized friend cookies for her class.  They were a big hit!

the boys

These cuties were not too difficult to make but do require 2-3 days of planning and prep.  The royal icing takes about 24 hours to dry.  Speaking of which, if you have never worked with royal icing, definitely look up a video or two on YouTube to get some pointers because it can be tricky and frustrating otherwise.

the girls

the teachers

Lastly, if I had more time I would have added *cocoa powder to some of the cookie dough to get different skin tones.  I was in a bit of a rush though and ended up making everyone Caucasian-lol!  The kids still tell which cookie was who though based just on hair color, hair style and eye color.

I wanted to do a step-by-step decorating post for these but ended up making them at night and couldn't get an decent pictures.  I listed the general steps below but if you have a specific question just let me know.

wrapped up and ready to go!

Ingredients:
Prepared sugar cookie dough (store bought or homemade)
Royal icing prepared
Food coloring (yellow, brown, black, red, orange)
Mini M&M's
Lollipop sticks
Cocoa powder (*optional if you want to make the cookie dough different skin tones)

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Roll out sugar cookie dough (about 1/2 inch thick) and use a round cookie cutter to cut out "faces".  Gently insert lollipop stick into round cut dough.  Use a little more cookie dough on the back of the cookie if it looks like it needs more support.  Place on a cookie sheet and gently press M&M eyes in place.  Bake cookies for 10-13 minutes or until edges begin to just start to become golden.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack so cookies can cool completely.

2.  Separate the royal icing into different bowls and color each bowl with desired colors.  I made red for the mouth and 4 different hair colors (blonde, light-redish brown, brown and black).  Put the royal icing into piping bags and add a #2 or #3 small round tip.

3.  Decorate your cookies to resemble each person.  Then let dry for 24 hours. After this time the cookies may be individually wrapped in plastic bags or placed in an air tight container.

Source:  Inspired by WeeklyGreens