I love watermelon, and for some reason, the end of summer is one of the best times to get good sweet local ones.  Sometimes we have an end of summer party with a watermelon theme; I picked up some inexpensive watermelon plates and glasses a few years ago, so we serve our food on them. No matter what you choose for your menu, you’ll want to serve watermelon for dessert along with these quick and easy watermelon cookies. Although they look like they are time consuming to make, you will find you’ve finished the entire batch, including frosting, in less than an hour! 

I know cutout cookies can be a real pain, but since these are simply cut into large rounds that are then cut in half, they go very fast.  Frosting sugar cookies is usually the worst – but these take about 10 minutes for the entire batch.  In fact, my teenage daughter frosted these cookies for the picture; she’d never done it before, and they came out great. A real timesaver for cutout cookies is to use a pastry cloth and rolling pin cover which eliminates sticking and makes rolling much easier.

If you don’t want to make your dough from scratch, you can use a sugar cookie mix or even use store-bought dough.  You can also stir food coloring into canned white frosting and microwave for a few seconds to make it the right consistency to dip the cookies in. I like to use paste food coloring to get the best bright watermelon colors; it is available at craft stores and restaurant supply stores.  
 
I’ve included one of my favorite sugar cookie recipes; it is made with real butter, so besides being cute, these cookies actually taste good. 

Watermelon Slice Cookies

 Makes about 4 dozen cookies

          Cookies
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup butter
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
  Red Paste Food Coloring
         
1 cup (about) miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
         
          Glaze
3 cups powdered sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
  green paste food coloring
         
 
Cookies:  Sift dry ingredients in bowl; cut in the butter until it looks like cornmeal.  Mix in the eggs, flavorings, and red food coloring to make the dough a deep pink.


Roll out on a floured pastry cloth 1/4" to 1/3" thick and cut with a 4" round cutter.  Cut each round in half and place on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet. 








  
 Press a few chocolate chips in each cookie for seeds. 











 
 Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges barely begin to brown.  Remove to cooling racks.











 
Glaze:  Mix the powdered sugar and milk until the consistency of pancake batter; add enough green paste color to make a bright green.  Place in a wide, shallow bowl.  Dip the rounded edge of each cookie in the glaze to resemble watermelon rind.  Let set up on parchment or waxed paper.
 
Nutrition Information:
 
Amount Per Serving
Calories  138        Calories from Fat  50
Percent Total Calories From:
Fat   36%        Protein   4%        Carb.  60%
 
Nutrient              Amount per     % Daily
                          Serving   Value
Total Fat                    6  g      8%
  Saturated Fat           3  g     16%
Cholesterol                24  mg    8%
Sodium                      63  mg    3%
Total Carbohydrate         21 g          7%
  Dietary Fiber           0  g      0%
  Sugars                      0  g
Protein                        1  g
 
Vitamin A   3%      Vitamin C   0%      Calcium   0%      Iron   1%