Birthday Cake Cookie Stacks

For my Hungry Puppy's birthday party, she and her friends built these cute little birthday cake cookie stacks.  Since I always make birthday treats for my Hungry Puppies to share with their classes at school, we decided to get two out of one and do cookie stacks for school as well.  This saved me some trouble because all I had to do was double the cookie recipe, and I had enough for both events.  These little treats are relatively simple, and really don't take long to put together.  Rolling and cutting the dough is the most time consuming part, but this cookie dough doesn't need to chill!  It is my favorite roll out cookie dough and is so easy to work with.  After you bake and cool your cookie circles, just swirl on some frosting (and yes, these use a lot of frosting!), stack them up, sprinkle with your favorite sprinkles and throw on a candle.  Easy, fun, and cute!

Birthday Cake Cookie Stacks

Cookies:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature (you can substitute 1/2 cup shortening)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Frosting:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter

1 cups vegetable shortening 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon butter flavoring

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon meringue powder

2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, sifted

4 tablespoon milk (if needed)

Desired colors of food coloring

Sprinkles

18 birthday candles, cut in half

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture, 1 cup at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated.

Divide the dough into two balls.  Roll out one ball of dough on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick.  Using a 3 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut 18 circles.  Repeat the process using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter to cut 18 circles, followed by a 1 1/2 inch round cookie cutter to cut 18 circles, using the second ball of dough and rerolling scraps as needed.  (If desired, you can use a 1/2 inch round cookie cutter to cut a tiny 4th tier.)

Carefully place the circles on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake in the preheated oven for about 7 minutes, or until a light golden brown on the edges.  Remove cookies from the oven and let cool for a couple of minutes on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before assembling.  Repeat with remaining dough circles.

For the frosting, combine the butter, shortening, and salt in a large bowl and beat on low speed for 5 minutes. Add the vanilla, butter flavor, and almond extract and beat until well blended. Turn off the mixer and add the meringue powder and half of the confectioners’ sugar. Mix on the slowest speed the mixer has. Mix in the remaining sugar 1/2 cup at a time, until all the sugar is mixed in. Beat in any desired food coloring to reach desired shade.  Turn the mixer up to medium and beat until smooth and creamy. This should take about 5 minutes. If the icing seems too thick to spread, beat in enough milk until the desired consistency is reached.

To assemble the cookies, set out a large, medium, and small cookie on your work surface.  Place some frosting in a piping bag with a large star tip, and pipe a swirl of frosting on the top of each cookie.  Carefully stack the medium cookie on top of the large on, and the smallest cookie on top.  Sprinkle with sprinkles, and place a candle in the top.  Repeat with remaining cookies.  Makes about 18 3-tiered cookie stacks.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy