Fun Pie Cookies

I've always loved doing cute things with foods, for special occasions, or just for the kids. Over the years, they've enjoyed cracker characters, pancakes with funny faces, and even apple pieces with marshmallows, made to look like ghoulish grins for Halloween. But one of my favorite things to make for a special occasion is a cookie pie. It's a cookie but it looks like a pie. The scrumptious cookie contains lots of goodies and is perfect for a wedding, a birthday party, or most any other occasion.

A sugar cookie makes the perfect base for the fake pie. You can buy the cookies at a bakery, stir up a boxed mix, or make your own recipe. Or, for the quickest cookie pies possible, just use refrigerated dough. When you put a dough chunk between two pieces of wax paper, you can roll it out without it sticking to the rolling pin. Dust the wax paper pieces with flour. Alternatively, you can just press the cookies flat with your hand.

Bake the cookies according to the instructions or recipe and allow them to cool completely. Then, choose candies you can use to create the look of a pie. You can use blue M&Ms or jellybeans to make a blueberry pie. Or, use red ones to make a cherry pie. There are other candies you could use, too, particularly if you shop online.

Spread white frosting on each cookie and cover it with the chosen candies. Stir a little cocoa into white frosting to tint it tan. Place the darkened frosting in a sandwich bag and snip one corner to dispense it. Pipe the tan frosting around the perimeter of the cookie. If you want to make dough strips across the top, draw wide lines of the tan frosting, spacing them evenly apart.

Besides fruit pies you can also make a chocolate or butterscotch pie. Just spread the frosting on the cookie, cover it with chocolate or butterscotch chips, then, instead of piped-on frosting, create a border around the cookie with whipped cream. For this pie you could also use a peanut butter or chocolate cookie instead of a sugar cookie. Any of the fruit pies can also have whipped cream accents instead of piped frosting.

You can make individual cookie pies or you can make one large pie. Just pat out the dough to make one cookie, and decorate it with the chosen candies and toppings. It's decadent!