Yoshi Egg Sugar Cookies

So it has shamefully been many months since my son's first birthday. We did (unsurprisingly) a Mario themed party for him and I thought everything was awesome. I am no party planner, but besides using many ideas found on Pinterest, I also came up with several of my own ideas for things to make within the theme.  I am going to try and blog about some of these ideas soon, but you know how that goes. For now though, I figured I would start with the easiest.  This was an idea I came up with and delegated to my MIL. She did an excellent job and I wanted to share the end result with you. These cute cookies are certain to be a hit at your party. Be careful though, you can't eat just one. :) 

For the cookies:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. 
2. Cover, and chill the dough for one hour or more.
3. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
4. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Use an egg shaped cookie cutter. My cookie cutter was approximately 3 inches long.  Place cookies 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. I line my sheets with parchment paper, but it is optional. 
5. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven.

For the icing and garnish: 

Ingredients

         2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese

            1 cup confectioners sugar
            1/4 cup milk
            1 tablespoon vanilla extract
            1 package dark green candy melts or M&Ms 

Directions

1. In a mixer, add the cream cheese. Beat until it is light and fluffy.
2. Beat in powdered sugar until fully incorporated.
3. Add milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
4. If icing is too thick, add milk one tablespoon at a time unti desired conistency is reached. 

Decorating:

Once the cookies are completely cooled, frost with the icing.  Garnish with green candy melts or green M&Ms. You could also use blue, yellow, or red candy melts/M&Ms to make the different colored Yoshi eggs.  

You could also use green Spree candy, if the kids are old enough that it wouldn't pose a choking hazard. Or you could dye some icing green and use a piping bag to make the dots, if you want to take the time to do it. 

Note:  My son's birthday is in the spring and Easter Egg cookie cutters were being sold in most stores.  You will likely be able to find an egg shaped cookie cutter at craft stores year round, or you can always order one online.