Mushroom Cookies Recipe (Cute & Realistic Design)

Mushroom cookies are a fun and creative dessert that look just like wild forest mushrooms but are actually soft, sweet, and delicious. A favorite in many traditional Eastern European kitchens, mushroom cookies are perfect for holiday baking, special occasions, or as a unique treat to impress family and friends.

Since they are very time-consuming to make, I (like most people) typically make them for major and festive occasions such as weddings or big holidays. But let me assure you, it’s truly safe to say that they are worth every minute spent making them.

“You have to take a closer look to make sure they are edible”, is a comment I often get from people. They look very realistic with the dark chocolate ganache-covered mushroom heads, white glaze-dipped stems, and touched-up roots with poppy seeds to represent a sandy stem. How cute is that?

But you know what? They’re actually quite simple to make once you get the hang of it and a ton of fun too! I have no doubt that you will love these little gems. Have fun making and serving them!

White Glaze:

• Eggs whites: To get the perfect base for the white glaze so that it not only sets perfectly but also appears white, you’ll need egg whites from 2 large eggs.
• Confectioners’ sugar: You’ll also need some confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar) to get the perfect sweet flavor.
• Poppy seeds: We’ll also be using some poppy seeds to decorate the bottom of the mushroom stems. This gives a sandy effect and looks better than using cocoa powder.

Chocolate Ganache:

• Chocolate: For our delicious chocolate ganache, we’ll need some chocolate chips or a bar. Previously I’ve always used Hershey’s dark chocolate bar but this time I had these semi-sweet chocolate chips instead. So you can use whichever ones you can get your hands on easily.
• Milk: You’ll also need some whole milk (not pictured) to get the right consistency for the ganache. Check out my NO-FAIL chocolate ganache recipe for full details.

Items You Will Need to Make these Mushrooms

Mushroom Cookie Maker: NOTE: I’ve owned this particular mold for 15 years now. It was a gift from my aunt Luyba from Ukraine. It’s an old classical piece that I treasure. It’s heavy, durable, and made out of steel metal.

These molds are hard to find here in the USA, so the Amazon link I’m including is a similarly shaped mold that should achieve the same results. If you know anyone who lives in Europe you could ask them for a big favor and sent one over to you!

12-egg carton: You’ll also need a 12-egg carton since it’ll help you hold the mushrooms up after you’ve dipped the stems in white glaze. By using a leftover egg carton, you can have your very own cookie holder while decorating for absolutely free!

30-egg cartons: You’ll also need two 30-egg cartons for resting the mushrooms after you dip the mushroom heads in chocolate ganache. This is truly the best ‘wire rack’ since they’re upright and it won’t drip off unlike if you used a conventional wire rack or even a baking sheet.

How to Make Mushroom Cookies

Making these delicious mushroom cookies is so incredibly fun! Here’s what you need to do step by step to make them:

How to Make Mushroom Cookie Batter

Let’s start by making the cookie batter. To do this, beat softened butter and sugar together well until creamy in a stand mixer bowl or a medium bowl using an electric mixer. Next, add mayonnaise and beat for 30 seconds.

Scrape down the sides of the stand mixer bowl with a silicone spatula to make sure the mayonnaise, butter, and sugar are well combined, and beat again for additional 30 seconds.

Then add 2 large eggs and beat the batter until fluffy about a minute or so.

Measure out the flour, baking soda, and salt. Sift the flour mixture into the batter, mayonnaise, and sugar mixture. Using a silicone spatula mix everything until well combined.

Sift an additional 2 cups of flour into the same glass bowl you used for the first half amount of flour.

Attach the mixer bowl to the mixer and using the dough hook attachment add and mix in the rest of the flour ½ cup at a time.

The dough will be crumbly but soft at this stage, similar to play dough in texture. Knead the dough into a ball, place it into the previously floured glass bowl, and cover it with a lid or plastic wrap.

It’s important to note that the dough will dry quickly if not covered properly. Set the dough aside and make the white glaze.

How to Make White Glaze for the Mushroom Stems

To make the white glaze, start by separating egg whites into a small glass bowl. Then add powdered sugar and mix starting at the slowest speed (if you don’t want to find yourself standing in a white cloud of powdered sugar), increasing the mixing speed gradually. Beat it for about a minute or so.

Cover the bowl with a lid and always keep it covered when not in use.

Note: Leaving it uncovered will dry out the glaze and crystalize the top of it which will look unappealing on the cookies.

How to Pre-Shape Mushroom Cookies

Time to shape our cookies! Heat the Mushroom Cookie Maker over medium heat. While the mold is heating, reshape the dough.

Pinch off a little dough, roll into a ball (about 1″ in diameter) and reshape it into a rough mushroom form.

Note: It doesn’t have to look perfect, it will shape itself perfectly in the mold while baking.

How to Bake Mushroom Cookies

Let’s bake our cookies now! Place mushroom pre-shaped cookies into the preheated mold.

Bake for 3 minutes, then flip it over and bake for another minute or until golden brown.

Note: Baking time will vary depending on the type of metal your cookie mold is made of. If it’s made of aluminum, it will bake faster.

While this set of cookies is baking, pre-shape another set of cookies, so they are ready to be placed in the mold right after the baked ones are removed.

Using a regular tablespoon or a thin spatula remove baked cookies and place them on a plate to cool for about 5 minutes or until they’re warm to the touch.

While the second set of cookies is baking and the first set is cooling, pre-shape another set of mushroom cookies.

Note: I repeat the cycle of pre-shaping another set of cookies right after I place the previous set to bake.

How to Glaze Mushroom Cookie Stem with White Glaze

Next, let’s add the white glaze to the mushroom cookie stems.

Hold the mushroom cookie by its head with one hand, hold and tilt the glaze bowl with the other hand and dip the entire stem into the glaze. Hold for a few seconds while the excess glaze drips off.

Place the glazed mushroom cookie in a pocket of the smaller egg carton for the stem to dry out while standing upright.

While this set of mushroom stems is drying, keep going with the smooth process of preshaping and baking till you’ve used up all the cookie batter.

How to Add Sand-looking Decor to Mushroom Cookie Stem

Most of the stem glaze will dry out except for the bottom. So, now it’s time to add some beauty to the mushroom. Hold it by its head and dip the stem into poppy seed, about ¼ in, and roll on the side of the plate to pack them tightly.

Tip: I like to use a large plate with a raised edge so I can press down poppy seeds to create a nicely rounded base. Then place the mushroom cookies into individual pockets of a purple egg carton.

How to Maintain a Smooth Cookie-Making Workflow

Maintain a smooth workflow by placing everything in order of operation. That way it’s easier to keep track of and control the process. You won’t need to use a timer to time each step but will be able to tell if the cookie is ready for the next step just by looking at and touching them.

This way, you should be able to tell which set needs glazing, dipping, removal of baked cookies from the mold, etc. Once you get the hang of it, you will feel like a pro, I promise! The picture below shows the organization setup I use.

Bake, dip in glaze and poppy seeds all of the mushroom cookies and allow the stems to dry out completely before proceeding to the step of dipping the mushroom heads into chocolate ganache.

How to Make Chocolate Ganache

Let’s make our delicious chocolate ganache. To do this, add dark chocolate chips into a bowl placed over a water bath, and then add milk and let the chocolate melt, stirring from time to time with a spoon or hand whisk.

Once the water boils reduce the heat and let the chocolate melt and mix with milk completely.

Tip: Before I always used a Hershey’s Dark Chocolate bar to make the ganache but didn’t have any this time so I used chocolate chips and must say that I like how the ganache turns out made with the bar.

Check out the Simple Chocolate Ganache Recipe. I’ve modified this recipe for the mushroom cookies ganache and don’t add that extra 2 tbsp. of milk at the end. This is because the ganache should be thicker for dipping cookies.

Let the ganache cool a bit before moving on to the dipping step.

How to Decorate Mushroom Heads with Chocolate Ganache

Once the mushroom stems have dried completely, it is safe enough to hold the mushroom by the stem (without messing up your work) and dip the heads into the chocolate.

Hang the mushroom cookies in between the egg pocket peaks so that the lowest possible point of the mushroom head rests against the peaks.

This way, the chocolate will have minimal contact with the carton and keep its beautiful shape. The chocolate mushroom heads should look smooth and glossy.

Once the ganache sets completely, the gloss will look dull like in the picture below.

Be very careful when removing them from the egg cartons. Use a knife blade to separate the sides of the mushroom head from the carton to cause minimal damage to the mushroom head.

Your delicious and stunning Mushroom Cookies are ready to be served!

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