Hungry Happenings

  • RECIPES
    • All Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Decorated Cookies
    • Decorated Cakes
    • Cheesecake Recipes
    • Everyday Desserts
    • Homemade Candy
    • Everyday Meals
    • Readers’ Gallery
  • HOW TO
    • Chocolate Making Tips
    • Chocolate Making Course (video lessons)
    • Make Modeling Chocolate
      • Modeling Chocolate Recipe and Tutorial
      • How to Color Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Store and Work with Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Fix Greasy Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Fix Dry Modeling Chocolate
      • Use Colored Candy Melts to Make Candy Clay
    • Candy Clay Creations
    • How To Color White Chocolate and Candy Melts and Paint Candy Molds
    • How to Use Food Coloring Markers
  • HOLIDAYS
    • ALL HOLIDAY RECIPES
    • Valentine's Day
    • St. Patrick's Day
    • Easter
    • 4th of July
    • Halloween
      • Hungry Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
    • New Year's Eve
    • MORE HOLIDAYS
      • Mother's Day
      • Father's Day
      • April Fools
      • Chinese New Year
      • Cinco de Mayo
      • Day of the Dead
      • Earth Day
      • Mardi Gras
  • PARTY FOOD
    • Super Bowl
    • Graduation
    • Birthday Party
    • March Madness
    • Summer Fun
    • Baby Shower
    • Wedding Shower
    • School/Teacher
    • Movie and T.V. Characters
    • Kid's Treats
    • Fun Party Recipes
  • MY COOKBOOKS
  • ABOUT
  • MY BLOGS
    • HowToMakeCerealTreats.com
    • HowToMakeEasyCookies.com
    • HowToMakeEasyFudge.com
    • TheSugarAcademy.com
menu icon
go to homepage
  • recipes
  • chocolate tips
  • about
  • cookbooks
  • subscribe
  • holiday recipes
  • Halloween recipes
  • party food
  • appetizers
  • decorated cheese balls
  • cute food for kids
  • dessert recipes
  • chocolate recipes
  • homemade candy
  • decorated cakes
  • cupcake recpes
  • cheesecake recipes
  • cookie recipes
  • rice krispie treats recipes
  • fudge recipes
  • modeling chocolate treats
  • ice cream recipes
  • popcorn recipes
  • everyday meals
  • recipe roundups
  • readers' gallery
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • recipes
    • chocolate tips
    • about
    • cookbooks
    • subscribe
    • holiday recipes
    • Halloween recipes
    • party food
    • appetizers
    • decorated cheese balls
    • cute food for kids
    • dessert recipes
    • chocolate recipes
    • homemade candy
    • decorated cakes
    • cupcake recpes
    • cheesecake recipes
    • cookie recipes
    • rice krispie treats recipes
    • fudge recipes
    • modeling chocolate treats
    • ice cream recipes
    • popcorn recipes
    • everyday meals
    • recipe roundups
    • readers' gallery
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Home » Recipes » Mother's Day

    Ladies' Hat Piñata Cookies

    Modified: Jul 28, '23 · Published: Apr 28, '19 · By: Beth Klosterboer · Commission earned on paid or sponsored links.

    Jump to Recipe

    Wearing ladies' hats may have gone out of fashion, but these festively decorated Ladies' Hat Piñata Cookies will still be fun treats to serve on Mother's Day, Easter, or for a Kentucky Derby Party.

    The recipe was originally published on May 6, 2015.

    ladies hat cookies filled with candy and decorated with pretty modeling chocolate flowers

    Ladies' hats used to be all the rage and even though they no longer make a big fashion statement they are still an iconic symbol of days gone by. I remember as a child wearing my mom's hats when we played dress up.

    Girls and women still wore hats on Easter Sunday and to this day many still wear hats to the Kentucky Derby. So I wanted to create some cute hat-shaped treats and am excited to share how to make these Ladies' Hat Cookies.

    I love making candy-filled pinata cookies. My Snowflake-Filled Snowman Cookies and Sombrero Pinata Cookies are both very popular.

    It's fun to see the reaction of friends and family when they break them open to find candy hiding inside.

    pink, yellow, blue, and purple hat cookies filled with pastel M&Ms

    These candy-filled hat cookies are very much like the Baseball Hat Piñata Cookies I shared with you a few weeks ago. Like those cookies, I once again used a cake ball pan to shape the rounded top of the hats.

    These hat cookies can be colored any way you'd like and decorated using fondant, modeling chocolate, candies, or sprinkles.

    I decorated these lady hat cookies with modeling chocolate daisies. They were easy to make and added just enough flair to the hats to dress them up.

    Ingredients

    Cookie Dough- (makes 12-15 cookies)

    all-purpose flour
    salt
    baking powder
    butter (If you use salted butter, cut the salt in the recipe in half.)
    sugar
    eggs
    vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
    almond extract
    gel food coloring

    See the recipe card for quantities.

    Decorations:
    4-6 ounces modeling chocolate* or fondant
    corn syrup
    2-4 tablespoons royal icing (or store-bought cookie icing to match cookie color)
    candy (about a tablespoonful per cookie)

    *You can find the recipe and tutorial for making homemade white modeling chocolate on my Chocolate Making Tips page.

    Supplies

    Bake Pop Pan or other cake ball pan
    3 - 4 inch scalloped round cookie cutter (based on the size of your cake ball pan)
    2 ½ inch round cookie cutter
    optional, JEM 5mm strip cutter #2 (or use a pizza cutter)
    small daisy plunger cutter
    small round plunger cutter

    You can find supplies needed to create this recipe on Amazon. I earn a small commission when you use the sales links in this post to make a purchase at no extra cost to you.

    Telebrands Bake PopShop on Amazon Fox Run Brands 4-Piece Dais...Shop on Amazon
    Wilton Water BrushShop on Amazon Ateco Plain Edge Round Cutt...Shop on Amazon Rodelle Paste, Vanilla, 4 F...Shop on Amazon Rodelle Organics Pure Almon...Shop on Amazon Food Coloring AmeriColor So...Shop on Amazon

    Instructions

    making cookie dough in a KitchenAid mixer using Rodelle vanilla bean paste and almond extract

    Make the cookie dough.

    • Mix 4 cups all-purpose flour, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¾ teaspoon baking powder together in a bowl.
    • Set aside.
    • Cream 1 cup softened butter and 1 ½ cups sugar until light and fluffy.
    • Stir in 2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or pure vanilla extract), and ¾ teaspoon almond extract.
    • Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

    Note: I love using Rodelle's Vanilla Bean Paste in my cookies. The flavor is so intense and it doesn't bake out as it does when using liquid extracts, so the cookies have an amazing vanilla flavor.

    coloring sugar cookie dough pink, yellow, and blue using gel food coloring

    Color the cookie dough.

    • Divide your dough into 4 equal parts.
    • Add a few drops of food coloring to each dough ball and knead the coloring in to the dough.
    • For the hats you can use any colors you like. I used pink, violet, blue, and yellow.
    • Just note that being the dough is a light tan color, you won't get true colors. My blue was really more teal, which I thought was quite pretty.
    • If you want truer colors you can add some white food coloring.

    NOTE: Wear food handling gloves or you will color your hands!

    rolling out pink cookie dough and cutting out the flower-shaped bases for the hat cookies

    Roll and cut-out dough.

    • Lightly dust your work surface with flour.
    • Roll out the dough to between ⅛th of an inch and 1/16th of an inch thickness.
    • Cut out 4 hat brims using a 3-4 inch round scalloped cutter.
    • Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
    • Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
    • Bake these cookies for 12-14 minutes.

    Why refrigerate the cut shapes?

    • Chilling the dough will help to keep the dough from spreading while it's baking.
    cut circles out of purple cookie dough the set the circles over the cake ball pan and form them to the pan

    Cut and form dough circles into domes.

    • Re-roll each colored cookie dough out to a 1/16-inch thickness.
    • Cut 4 circles of each color using round cutters, so that when you drape the dough over your cake ball pan, the dough drapes over but doesn't touch the base of the pan.
    • The cookies will spread slightly while baking so you want to give them a bit of room to spread.
    • You don't want the dough forming a lip at the base of the cookie.
    • I used a 2 ½-inch cutter, but your pan may be smaller and require a smaller cutter, so adjust the size as needed.
    • Drape circles of dough over each mound on your pan and smooth with your fingers.
    • Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes. You want this dough really cold before baking.

    Note:

    • You will have some excess dough and can make a few more hat cookies.
    • Being my cake ball pan only allowed me to make 13 cookies at a time, I made 4 of each then just rolled out the excess dough and baked up a few cookies to snack on.
    baked pink, purple, and blue hat cookie pieces

    Bake the cookies.

    • Bake the cookies on the bottom rack of your oven for 8-11 minutes.
    • Allow the cookies to cool completely.

    You will notice a few of my cookies browned quite a bit on top which was caused by a few hot spots in my oven. If you have those too, it's best to rotate the cookies halfway through baking. I got distracted and forgot to do that.

    filling the hat pinata cookies with pastel M&Ms and securing the pieces together using Betty Crocker cookie icing.

    Fill and assemble the cookies.

    • To assemble your hat cookies, fill the rounded cookies with candies, then pipe a thin line of royal icing around the top edge of the cookie.
      • I used store-bought cookie icing, but you can use homemade royal icing if you prefer.
      • You can find my royal icing recipe on my Sugar Skull tutorial.
    • Turn one of the scalloped cookies upside down, set it on top of the iced cookie, and press them together to seal.
    • Turn the cookie right side up and allow them to dry for at least 30 minutes.
    roll out white modeling chocolate and cut that into thin strips to put around the base of each hat cookie

    Make modeling chocolate decorations.

    • To decorate your hat cookies, roll out some modeling chocolate or fondant and cut into ⅛th inch wide by 8-inch long strips and attach to the hats using royal icing, cutting off any excess.

    Find the simple 2-ingredient modeling chocolate recipe and tips for coloring white modeling chocolate on my How to Make Modeling Chocolate page.

    cutting out pink daisies and green dots out of modeling chocolate and attaching them to the hat cookies.

    Add flowers to the hats.

    • Color small pieces of white modeling chocolate or fondant to match your hats.
    • Color some green as well.
    • Roll out the modeling chocolate and cut out flowers using a small daisy plunger cutter. Cut the center of the flowers out using a small round plunger cutter.
    • Attach the centers to the daisies using a small dab of water.

    Note:

    • I used Wilton's new Water Brush, which I love.
    • I don't have to mess around with bowls of water, which I've been known to spill all over my modeling chocolate. The water is contained in the brush. It was perfect for attaching these tiny pieces together.
    decorated yellow, pink, purple, and blue hat cookies set on a blue silicone mat

    Once all of your cookies are assembled and decorated they are ready to dress up your dessert table.

    candy filled pinata cookies including baseball caps, basketballs, batman bats, sombrero hats, and smiley face sunshine cookies

    You might also like these other candy-filled pinata-style cookies.

    Baseball Piñata Cookies
    Basketball Piñata Cookies
    Sunshine Piñata Cookies
    Batman Piñata Cookies
    Sombrero Piñata Cookies

    Recipe

    5 from 2 votes
    Print
    Ladies Hat Pinata Cookies
    Prep Time
    1 hr
    Cook Time
    12 mins
    Total Time
    1 hr 12 mins
     

    Brightly colored cookies shaped like ladies hats are decorated with modeling chocolate flowers and are filled with candy so when you crack them open you find candy hiding inside. 

    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: ladies hat cookies, ladies hat pinata cookies
    Servings: 12
    Author: Beth Klosterboer
    Ingredients
    Cookie Dough
    • 4 cups all-purpose flour
    • ¾ teaspoon salt
    • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 cup butter, softened slightly
    • 1 ½ cups sugar
    • 2 large eggs
    • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
    • ¾ teaspoon almond extract
    • gel food coloring (pink, blue, yellow, violet)
    Decorations:
    • ¾ cup small candies like M&M's
    • 2-4 tablespoons royal icing or store bought cookie icing to match cookie color
    • 4-6 ounces modeling chocolate or fondant
    • corn syrup
    Instructions
    Cookie Dough
    1. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside. 

    2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in eggs, vanilla bean paste, and almond extract.

    3. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.
    4. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and color pink, violet, blue, and yellow.
    5. Lightly dust your work surface, roll out the dough to between ⅛th of an inch and 1/16th of an inch thickness. Cut out 4 hat brims using a round scalloped cutter.
    6. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
    7. Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
    8. Bake these cookies for 12-14 minutes.
    9. Re-roll each colored cookie dough out to a 1/16 inch thickness.
    10. Cut four circles of each color using 2 ½ inch (or smaller) round cutters, so that when you drape the dough over your cake ball pan, the dough drapes over but doesn’t touch the base of the pan.
    11. Drape circles of dough over each mound on your pan and smooth with your fingers.
    12. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes.
    13. Bake the cookies on the bottom rack of your oven for 8-11 minutes.
    14. Allow the cookies to cool completely.
    Decorations & Candy
    1. To assemble your hat cookies, fill the rounded cookies with candies, then pipe a thin line of royal icing around the top edge of the cookie.
    2. Turn one of the scalloped cookies upside down, set it on top of the iced cookie, and press them together to seal. Turn the cookie right side up and allow to dry for at least 30 minutes.
    3. To decorate your hat cookies, roll out some modeling chocolate or fondant and cut into ⅛th inch wide by 8 inch long strips and attach to the hats using royal icing, cutting off any excess.
    4. Color small pieces of white modeling chocolate or fondant to match your hats. Color some green as well.
    5. Roll out the modeling chocolate and cut out flowers using a small daisy plunger cutter. Cut the center of the flowers out using a small round plunger cutter.
    6. Attach the centers to the daisies using a small dab of water.Note: I used Wilton’s new Water Brush, which I love. I don’t have to mess around with bowls of water, which I’ve been known to spill all over my modeling chocolate. The water is contained in the brush. It was perfect for attaching these tiny pieces together.
    7. Once all of your cookies are assembled and decorated they are ready to dress up your dessert table.
    four ladies hat cookies on a black background
    • Author
    • Recent Posts
    Beth Klosterboer
    Beth Klosterboer
    Hi, I'm Beth Klosterboer, a professional chocolatier & baker, cookbook author, and event planner. I love sharing recipes for happy occasions here on Hungry Happenings. I also create easy fudge recipes to share at HowToMakeEasyFudge.com, rice krispie treat recipes at HowToMakeCerealTreats.com, and easy cookie recipes at HowToMakeEasyCookies.com
    Beth Klosterboer
    Latest posts by Beth Klosterboer (see all)
    • Irresistible Sweets with Dixie Crystals® - July 13, 2024
    • How to make peanut butter? - February 15, 2024
    • OREO Penguins - December 20, 2023

    More Mother's Day Recipes

    • Soft and chewy Coconut Macaroon Cups filed with homemade blueberry curd are topped with a dollop of whipped cream and some fresh blueberries.
      Coconut Macaroon Cups filled with Fresh Blueberry Curd
    • Daisy cheesecake with a pretty pink, smiley face daisy painted on top
      Daisy Cheesecake
    • heart-shaped empire cookies are filled with raspberry preserves and are topped with a sweet glaze
      Empire Cookie Hearts
    • Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake with a layer of flourless chocolate cake topped with chocolate mousse and white chocolate raspberry mousse
      Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake

    About Beth Klosterboer

    Comments

      Please leave a comment. Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Tina says

      March 10, 2020 at 12:19 pm

      This is so cute! Thank you for the creative idea!

      Reply
      • Beth says

        March 10, 2020 at 1:49 pm

        Thanks!

        Reply
    2. The Chunky Chef says

      May 15, 2015 at 1:29 am

      Okay, those are just about the most adorable cookies I've ever seen!! We'd love it if you could share this awesome recipe a our link party 🙂 http://www.thechunkychef.com/friday-favorites-268/

      Reply
    3. Dinner then Dessert says

      May 13, 2015 at 9:13 pm

      These are great! Pinning this 🙂

      Reply
    4. Karen @ Sugartown Sweets says

      May 11, 2015 at 6:08 pm

      LOVE these Mom's Day..Derby Day..or Just for Fun Day cookies! Can't wait to hear more about all your "Sugar Trips"..plus I'm gonna have to try using your vanilla bean paste!

      Reply
    5. Michelle Nahom says

      May 11, 2015 at 5:35 pm

      These are so amazing! I am always so in awe of your creativity when I am here!

      Reply
    6. Michelle Clausen says

      May 08, 2015 at 4:01 pm

      I love these for mothers day! ( I really love the baseball ones too) - you are becoming the expert at pinata cookies!

      Reply
    7. The Partiologist says

      May 07, 2015 at 11:18 am

      I always wish I had the chance to wear hats. I'll definitely have the chance to eat hats - these are adorable and It looks like I could eat a hat for every occasion! 🙂

      Reply
    8. Lisa@hooplapalooza says

      May 06, 2015 at 6:52 pm

      oh gosh these are the prettiest hats ever! i'd stick one on my head and wear it around if i could! 🙂

      Reply
      • beth says

        May 14, 2015 at 12:24 am

        LOL, you'd have to have a mighty small head to make these fit, but I could see you doing it!!!

        Reply
    Beth Jackson Klosterboer

    Welcome to Hungry Happenings!

    I'm Beth. I've been a professional chocolatier & baker for over 30 years, have written 5 cookbooks, and love creating fun food for holidays and special occasions.

    Read more about me →

    Popular

    • Mini cheesecakes collage of images with plain cheesecakes, cheesecake cups with toppings, and decorated edible flower cheesecakes.
      Mini Cheesecakes
    • homemade candy bars including dark chocolate bars, milk chocolate cashew bars, white chocolate cookies and cream candy bars, and more
      The Best Step-by-Step Chocolate Bar Recipes
    • Marry a chocolate cake ball with a chocolate dipped maraschino cherry to get these amazing Chocolate Cherry Bombs.
      Chocolate Cherry Bombs - Cherry Filled Cake Balls Dipped in Chocolate
    • Giant Reese's Cup on a cake stand with a slice cut and served on a small dessert plate.
      Giant Peanut Butter Cup
    • Cakesicles with red and green drizzle, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate drizzle
      How to make Cakesicles (cake pop popsicles)
    • Delicious chocolate truffles coated in chopped cashews, shaved dark chocolate, cocoa powder, cookie crumbs, and a blend of dark and white chocolate shavings.
      Chocolate Truffles Recipe

    Buy my cookbooks

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    use policies

    • privacy policy
    • photo-use policy
    • terms of service

    join us

    • subscribe (newsletter)
    • our online courses
    • readers' gallery

    contact

    • contact
    • about Beth
    • FAQ

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2025 Hungry Happenings