Jello Cookies with Jello Frosting

Every summer my Auntie Lisa hosts a family trivia game while we're in Chelan. She often goes to this variety store that Chelan has to get a smorgasbord of prizes that we get to choose from (winners get first pick, etc). A couple summers ago I chose two boxes of Jell-O gelatin that have since been sitting in my pantry as I'm not a regular Jell-O eater. Thanks to Pinterest (and food bloggers in general), I found another way to use these up: frosted cookies! The Jell-O cookies came from I Save A to Z and the Jell-O frosting came from Coleen's Recipes.

Jell-O Cookies with Jell-O Frosting

Ingredients

Jell-O Cookies (source)

• 3½ cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1½ cups of butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 (3oz.) packages of Jello (I just used one as the second is for sprinkling over the cookies before baking and I didn't want to do that)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Jell-O Frosting (source)

• 3 ounce pkg. of Jello
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup BOILING water (212℉, though I wonder if it needed to be hotter)

Directions

Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray several cookie sheets with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour and baking powder and set to the side.
3. In a separate large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until it is creamy.
4. Add the sugar and one package of the Jello, then continue to mix until well blended and fluffy.
5. Mix in your egg and vanilla.
6. Then gradually add in the flour and beat until all is well mixed.
7. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
8. Use a glass to flatten each cookie (I decided to use my hand; has the same effect).
9. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned.
10. Let cool slightly before serving, or cool completely before storing in an air-tight container.

Frosting

1. Place the Jello powder, granulated sugar, egg white and vanilla in a GLASS OR METAL mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. DO NOT USE PLASTIC and make sure your glass or metal bowl is clean of any grease or oil.
2. Turn the mixer on HIGH and immediately add the half cup of BOILING water. Whip on high for five minutes.

I think I did something wrong with the frosting. Either the water wasn't hot enough (I heated it up in the microwave and checked with my food thermometer until it hit 212℉) or I whipped it for too long because the end result was more of a meringue (like when I whip egg whites for macarons) than frosting. I went beyond the 5 minutes because it was still a bit liquidy after 5 minutes. I've seen the same recipe with the title "7 minute Jell-O frosting" so maybe next time I'll whip it straight for 7 minutes then check it. Obviously I still used it (wasn't gonna waste food that was still good for the most part); I just left the cookies out overnight so the meringue frosting could harden (this backfired once I put the cookies in my cookie jar but oh well). The end result is still delicious. If I ever get boxes of Jell-O again from the trivia game, I know EXACTLY what I'm going to make with them.