Make Dad’s chores a little sweeter: Lawn mower cookies

These lawn mower sugar cookies will bring a lot more enjoyment than mowing a yard. They’re simple to make and the perfect way to show your dad how much you love him this Father’s Day.

These lawn mower sugar cookies start out with a basic sugar cookie dough. I used my favorite sugar cookie dough for this recipe, but to make them easier, you can always start with a premade sugar cookie mix. Usually the mix calls for only a few more ingredients and doesn’t require chilling time, which makes the cookies quick to make.

Once the cookie dough has been chilled, rolled out, cut into circles, baked and then cooled, the decorating can begin. I started off with a tub of vanilla frosting. If desired, you can dye the frosting green, or you can just leave it plain white. It doesn’t matter how prettily you frost the cookies; they will get covered up with coconut.

You will want to build up the frosting a little bit to be able to insert the “handle” of the mower. I used pull-apart Twizzlers that I left out of the package overnight. By leaving them out of the package, they harden enough to hold their shape. Pull the Twizzlers apart to have 2 or 3 connected strands. Cut the strands in half, and then bend the candy to form a loop. Press the ends of the Twizzler into the built-up frosting section to help it hold.

Next, press a Hershey’s Nugget right in front of the Twizzler. Before the frosting has had a chance to harden, make sure to get your coconut onto the cookie.

To quickly dye the coconut (I used sweetened coconut) green, place the coconut with 4 to 5 drops of food coloring into a resealable bag. Shake the bag until the coconut is dyed to your desired shade of green.

Press the dyed coconut onto the frosting surrounding the “base” of the lawn mower (the chocolate nugget).

Now it’s time to add a few embellishments. You can use Reese’s Pieces or M&M’s candies for the motor and the wheels. First up is the motor. Frost the bottom of the candy, and press it on top of the chocolate nugget.

After that comes the wheels. Take 4 chocolate candies, and frost 1 side of each. Press the frosted sides of the chocolate candies against the chocolate nugget to secure their place.

And there you have it — a finished and fantastic-looking sugar cookie lawn mower. Your dad is going to flip for these.

Lawn mower sugar cookie recipe

Yields 24

Ingredients:

• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (16 ounce) container vanilla frosting
• 24 Hershey’s Nuggets, unwrapped
• 1 large bag M&M’s or Reese’s Pieces candies
• 1 package pull-apart Twizzlers
• 2 cups sweetened coconut
• 4-5 drops green food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cornstarch. Stir and set it aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
3. Wrap the dough tightly, and chill it for 1 hour.
4. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough, and cut out large circles. Place the circles on an ungreased baking pan, and bake them for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottoms and edges.
5. Allow the cookies to completely cool, and then generously frost them with the vanilla frosting.
6. Press a separated and halved Twizzler onto each cookie. Press down. Place an unwrapped Hershey’s Nugget in front of the Twizzler.
7. In a resealable bag, add the coconut and food dye. Shake until the coconut is completely dyed.
8. Press the dyed coconut onto the frosting surrounding the Hershey’s Nugget.
9. Frost the backs of yellow M&M’s or Reese’s Pieces, and press 1 candy on the center of each Hershey’s Nugget. Frost the backs of chocolate candies, and press 4 candies to the sides of each Hershey’s Nugget to form wheels.

More Father’s Day recipes

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5 Grilled desserts for summer
12 Creative grilled cheese recipes