ELF COOKIE CUTTER RECIPES

Steps:

• Combine butter, sugar, egg, orange juice and vanilla in bowl. Beat at medium speed, until creamy. Add flour and baking powder. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
• Divide dough into thirds. Shape each third into a ball; flatten slightly. Wrap each in plastic food wrap; refrigerate at least 2 hours until firm.
• Heat oven to 400°F.
• Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one-third at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated), to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with 3-inch round ornament cookie cutter. Place 1-inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6-8 minutes or until edges just begin to turn lightly browned. Cool completely.
• Place candy coating in deep 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove from heat.
• Dip top one-third of a few cookies at a time into melted coating; shake off excess. Place onto waxed paper. Immediately, before coating hardens, decorate dipped portions to create hats. Repeat with remaining cookies.
• Decorate as desired using candies to create eyes, nose, cheeks and mouth. Attach candies to cookies with a dab of melted candy coating. Let stand 15 minutes to allow candy coating to harden.
• Store in single layers in loosely covered container.

Steps:

• In an electric mixer cream the butter with the brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, mix well. Sift together the flour and salt, add it to the wet ingredients beating until just incorporated. Place the dough in a 1 gallon size plastic bag. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured board roll the dough to approximately 1/4 inch thick. Remove rolled dough to a lightly floured board and using any shape cookie cutter cut the dough into shapes. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 10 minutes (depending on the size of the cookies). Remove to a rack and cool before decorating. Place the rack with the cookies over another pan to catch the excess chocolate. Put the chocolate in a quart size plastic bag. Place the bag with the chocolate in a saucepan with hot water. Allow the chocolate to melt, squeezing the bag to mix occasionally. Snip one of the corners off and drizzle chocolate over the cookies. Allow chocolate to set before serving.;
• To decorate: 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped.