Need a Kentucky Derby dessert that doesn’t require turning on the oven, rolling fondant or pretending you personal a fascinator assortment? These no bake horse cookies are cute, simple and able to trot onto your Derby dessert desk in about 20 minutes.
They are good for a Kentucky Derby get together, Preakness Stakes celebration, Belmont Stakes watch get together or any Triple Crown get-together. And if horse racing isn’t your factor, these little cuties are additionally proper at dwelling at a horse themed party, pony get together, equestrian occasion, farm get together or children get together.
Why You’ll Love These Horse Cookies
- Easy sufficient for busy hosts and last-minute get together prep
- Adorable on a Kentucky Derby dessert desk, Preakness unfold or horse themed party
- No baking required, which implies no oven and no stress
- Kid-friendly and enjoyable to assemble, with a bit grownup assist for chopping the sweet ears
- Made with easy elements from the cookie and sweet aisles
- More like an edible craft than an advanced recipe
- Cute, foolish and deliberately long-faced — as a result of horse cookies deserve a bit character too
Perfect for Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes Parties
The Triple Crown has three huge race days, and these horse cookies work for all of them.
Serve them for the Kentucky Derby with mint juleps, roses and massive hats. Make them for Preakness with Black-Eyed Susan cocktails and Maryland-inspired snacks. Bring them out for the Belmont Stakes with race day appetizers, bourbon desserts and a “who picked the profitable horse?” bragging-rights board.
Living proper close to the place the Preakness is hosted, I’ve been extra instances than I can rely, as seen by proof beneath.
Ingredients for No Bake Horse Cookies
- Milano cookies – These make the right horse head form as a result of they’re lengthy, clean and durable. Any rectangular cookie with a plain shell will work, however Milanos actually do win by a nostril.
- Mini Nilla wafers – These change into the muzzle of every horse cookie. Their small spherical form offers you simply sufficient area to attract a candy little smile, nostrils or expression.
- Candy eyes – The quickest strategy to give these horse cookies character. Look for them within the baking aisle close to the sprinkles and adorning sugars.
- Licorice strings – Use pull-apart licorice or skinny licorice strings to make reins, bridles or little ornamental particulars. Red, black and even rainbow colours all work.
- Tootsie Rolls – These are reduce into small triangles to make the horse ears. They are comfortable sufficient to snip with kitchen shears however agency sufficient to carry their form.
- White frosting or cookie icing – This acts because the edible glue to carry the whole lot collectively. Use only a small dab so the decorations keep put as a substitute of sliding round like they’re late for the beginning gate.
- Chocolate frosting or brown adorning icing – Perfect for piping a bit mane or tuft of horse hair on the high of every cookie. A star tip makes it further cute, however a small zip-top bag with the nook snipped works too.
- Edible meals marker – Use this to attract the mouth and nostrils on the mini Nilla wafer. It offers you extra management than frosting and retains the faces neat.
How to Make Horse Cookies
- Start with the Milano cookie because the horse’s face. Lay it flat on a parchment-lined baking sheet or tray.
- Use an edible marker to attract a smile, nostrils or a easy horse face onto a mini Nilla wafer.
- Attach the mini Nilla wafer to the decrease half of the Milano cookie utilizing a small dab of frosting. This turns into the horse’s muzzle.
- Cut licorice strings into small items and fix them with frosting to make reins, a bridle or ornamental particulars.
- Use kitchen shears to chop a Tootsie Roll into small triangle shapes. Press two triangles onto the highest of the cookie for ears, utilizing frosting as glue.
- Pipe or unfold a bit chocolate frosting on the high for a mane or tuft of horsey hair.
- Add sweet eyes with tiny dots of frosting.
- Let the cookies sit till the frosting corporations up sufficient to carry the whole lot in place.
- And there ya go: lovely no bake horse cookies prepared for the winner’s circle.
Tips for Making Horse Cookies
- Use a small quantity of frosting. Too a lot frosting makes the sweet slide round and it’ll seep out the perimeters.
- Let the cookies set earlier than transferring them. Give them 15 to twenty minutes so the decorations have time to stay.
- Use kitchen shears for the Tootsie Rolls. A knife can get sticky and awkward, whereas shears make cleaner little ear triangles.
- Keep a damp paper towel close by. Edible markers and frosting fingers can get messy quick, particularly if children are serving to.
- Choose sturdy cookies. Delicate cookies can crack if you press on the sweet items.
- Make one pattern cookie first. This offers you a information for spacing the eyes, muzzle, ears and mane earlier than you begin an meeting line.
Make-Ahead & Storage
Make Ahead– These horse cookies could be made a number of hours to a full day earlier than serving. For one of the best texture, retailer them in a single layer in an hermetic container at room temperature.
If stacking is critical, place parchment or wax paper between layers, however needless to say sweet eyes and frosting decorations can shift if they’re pressed too tightly.
Avoid refrigerating them except your kitchen may be very heat. The fridge could make some cookies soften and sweet decorations sweat. Nobody desires a sweaty horse cookie. We have requirements.
Variations for Horse Themed Parties
- For a children horse party, use colourful licorice and rainbow sprinkles for a extra playful look.
- For a Kentucky Derby get together, add crimson sweet particulars to nod to the roses.
- For a Preakness get together, use black and yellow serving items or place the cookies on a tray with Black-Eyed Susan-inspired decorations.
- For a Belmont Stakes get together, serve them with white and blue napkins or alongside different race day desserts.
- For an equestrian get together, use brown, black and white sweet particulars to make totally different “horse breeds.”
- For a farm get together, serve these with animal crackers, haystack cookies and cupcakes topped with little plastic horses.
More Derby Food Ideas
Easy no bake horse cookies made with Milano cookies, mini Nilla wafers, sweet eyes, licorice, frosting and Tootsie Rolls. Perfect for Kentucky Derby meals concepts, Preakness events, Belmont Stakes celebrations and horse themed events.
Prevent your display from going darkish
Servings: cookies
Start with the 12 Milano cookies because the horse’s face. Lay it flat on a parchment-lined baking sheet or tray.
Use an edible markers to attract a smile, nostrils or a easy horse face onto a 12 mini Nilla wafers.
Attach the mini Nilla wafer to the decrease half of the Milano cookie utilizing a small dab of frosting. This turns into the horse’s muzzle.
Cut 3 strands rope licorice into small items and fix them with frosting to make reins, a bridle or ornamental particulars.
Use kitchen shears to chop a 1 small Tootsie Roll into small triangle shapes. Press two triangles onto the highest of the cookie for ears, utilizing frosting as glue.
Add the 24 sweet eyes with tiny dots of frosting.
Pipe or unfold a bit chocolate frosting on the high for a mane or tuft of horsey hair.
Let the cookies sit till the frosting corporations up sufficient to carry the whole lot in place.
If you’ve got tried this recipe, come again and tell us the way it was within the feedback or star scores.
Use simply sufficient frosting to carry the decorations in place. Too a lot could make the sweet slide.
These are greatest served the identical day however could be made a number of hours forward.
For a celebration exercise, set out the decorations and let friends design their very own horse cookies.
Calories: 101 kcal, Carbohydrates: 13 g, Protein: 1 g, Fat: 4 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Cholesterol: 4 mg, Sodium: 104 mg, Potassium: 20 mg, Sugar: 3 g, Vitamin A: 15 IU, Calcium: 7 mg, Iron: 0.5 mg
