Olympic Medal Cookies

February: Winter Olympic Games

Be a winner when hosting an Olympic Games watch party by providing sugar cookie medals to guests. These gold, bronze and silver treats make impressive favors and desserts.

We actually gave out these Olympic medal cookies to winners of a bible trivia contest at a prayer social hosted by Islander’s brother’s student ministry group. Teams had to “compete for a cookie medal” and were very motivated to win these sweet treats. Students showed great sportsmanship, made new friends with their teammates and challenged themselves with bible knowledge (the use of smart phones disqualifies them!). Everyone had a lot of fun and looked forward to earning a custom cookie.

Create your own Olympic-style contest for a unique and enjoyable event and award the winners with sugar cookie medals.

Recipe

 (Adapted from Southern Living: Incredible Cookies)

 For the sugar cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar, granulated white
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract/flavoring
• 3 cups flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Add the vanilla. Gradually add the flour and salt. Blend well until a dough is formed.

Roll the dough into a ball and refrigerate for an hour. Cut the dough in half and roll each out into 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut with 2 ½ or 3-inch rounds using a cookie cutter or rim of a glass/cup. Punch out holes using Wilton tip 2A.

Place the cookies onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet about an inch apart. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes before baking in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Bake until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the fondant design

• white fondant (we used Wilton brand)
• water or clear piping gel (we used Wilton brand)
• gold, silver and bronze edible dusting powders (we used CK Products brand)
• tequila or vodka

Directions

Roll out fondant according to package directions. Using the same size round cutter and tip, cut out shapes and set aside.

Brush the surface of a cookie with water or piping gel. Adhere the fondant over the cookie, aligning with the hole punch. Smooth out edges with fingers. Imprint Olympic circles using the back end of another decorating tip.

Make a paste with the bronze/silver/gold dusting powder by mixing with a drop or two of tequila/vodka. Quickly paint over the surface of the fondant.

Let the cookies dry completely. Tie ribbons to the cookies (1 yard/3 feet long). Keep in a container until ready to present the medals.

Notes

• Knead hardened fondant with a little vegetable shortening to soften and make more pliable. Dust a clean surface with powdered sugar to avoid the fondant from sticking.
• Take care to choose edible and non-toxic dusting powders for painting the cookies. Some powders are made for sugar showpieces only and should not be eaten. They may be painted onto the fondant “dry” (without alcohol). However, the alcohol gives the powder a shinier metallic finish.
• We used a 5/8-inch wide red-white-and-blue ribbon. Other ribbon substitutions could be made, such as blue for 1st place (gold), red for 2nd place (silver) and white for 3rd place (bronze).
• The ribbons may be tied directly on the cookies. We used clear “twist ties” to attach the ribbons through the cookie holes.
• Thanks to Lisa L. for gifting us with the cookie cookbook from where we got the recipe for the sugar cookie base.