Decorated Shortbread Cookies will be the prettiest holiday cookies on your Christmas cookie platter! These cookies aren’t decorated with royal icing, though – they’re made with a twist!
Hooray! Cookie Week 2012 has finally arrived! Woo-hoo!
Friends, I absolutely love this time of year! I love Christmas. The music, the lights, and the festive decorations. I love every part of the holiday season!
What I love almost as much as the Christmas holiday is joining forces with my friends for a good cause. Last year, several of my blog buddies and I baked & exchanged cookies to raise money for Cookies for Kids Cancer. Cookies for Kids Cancer is an organization that raises money to bring viable cancer treatments directly into the hands of doctors so they can treat children kids that need them most–these are treatments that have been made unavailable due to lack of funding.
Thanks to Cookies for Kids Cancer, previously underfunded treatments are brought directly into the hands of doctors to help treat children with cancer.
Cookies for Kids Cancer also strives to make C stand for Cookie in the lives of children, and not cancer. What a fantastic mission!
Last year, thanks in large part to the generosity of Glad to Give, we exchanged a total 4494 cookies! That total along with a few donations brought our Cookie Week 2011 total to $529 going to help Cookies for Kids Cancer. This year we hope to raise even more money and awareness for the cause.
I’m so thankful to be joined this week by my friends to bring great cookie recipes to get you in the holiday gift giving mood. Look for recipes from me and Megan/Country Cleaver, Kat/Tenaciously Yours, Jeanne/Inside NanaBread’s Head, Carrie/Bakeaholic Mama, Allison/Decadent Philistines, Madeline/Munching in the Mitten, just to name a few!
Since King Arthur Flour believes in the cause so much, they’re the Official Flour of Cookies for Kids Cancer!
Now, on to the business of decorated shortbread cookies!
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I just adore giving decorated shortbread cookies as gifts for the holidays. A really great cookie adorned with a smooth, glossy coating, and hand-piped intricacies can bring joy to even the Scroogiest of recipients.
For as much as I love a pretty cookie, I don’t always love working with the royal icing required to create them. All that whipping of meringue powder and powdered sugar, spending hours to achieve just the right consistency and perfect colors–and that’s before the decorating even begins! Then comes the decorating in stages and overnight drying in between.
Suffice it to say that I like the idea of royally iced cookies, but my reality doesn’t allow the kind of time (and patience) required to dedicate to the craft. However, I’ve found a decorating shortcut of sorts, in the form of white chocolate.
White chocolate is the secret to success with these decorated shortbread cookies!
Simply melt white chocolate, and coat and pipe away ’til your heart’s content. I’ll show you how in a moment.
But before we get to the fun stuff, and due to the fact that gorgeous decorations are only as good as the cookie on which they on which they rest, I like to start with my favorite decorated shortbread cookie recipe…with a twist!
King Arthur Flour makes the most wonderful flavoring blend of vanilla and citrus, called Fiori di Sicilia, which I’ve been using in my shortbread cookie recipe. (Fiori di Sicilia also makes a fine addition to gingerbread and chocolate cake!) A small addition of Fiori di Sicilia turns a simple shortbread cookie into something really special. It’s the perfect canvas on which to make decorated shortbread!
Start by making the shortbread cookie dough. After chilling the dough as directed in the recipe, roll it out to 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out the desired shapes with well floured cookie cutters. I think these snowflakes cutters are particularly festive, don’t you? They’re coated with silicone so the cookie dough comes out like a breeze. 🙂
Try to cut out the shapes as close together as possible so as not to have re-roll the dough any more than necessary. Re-rolling the dough requires additional flour to keep it from sticking. Additional flour will eventually absorb too much moisture in the dough, thus making what was once a soft, malleable dough, dry and crumbly. If at any point the dough becomes too soft or sticky, re-wrap it and place it back in the refrigerator until it firms up again.
Transfer the cutouts onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat (or parchment paper,) keeping 2-inches of space in between. Verify that the cutouts are around 1/4-inch thick–they’ll need to be at least that thick to support the weight of the decorations without cracking under the pressure.
The cutouts will warm up quickly, so I recommend using a silicone spatula to move them around the baking sheet. This adorable OXO Good Grips be a good cookie spatula comes in a variety of colors, the sale of which benefits Cookies for Kids Cancer. For every be a good cookie spatula sold, the kind folks at OXO will donate 50% of the profits to Cookies to Kids Cancer, up to $100,000. Last year, I ordered a slew of be a good cookie spatulas from Amazon, and gave them as gifts to everyone, along with a few baked treats. The gifts were a huge hit!
Once all of the cookies are cut and nestled on the prepared cookie sheets, pop those baking sheets into the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The second round of chill time will firm up the butter again, and help keep the cookies from spreading while in the oven.
While the dough is chillin’ out in the ‘fridge, preheat the oven to 350° F.
After the cookie dough is firm again, bake cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges just barely begin to brown. Cool the cookies for three minutes on the baking sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Now for the really fun part – creating the decorated shortbread!
Source the highest quality white chocolate candy melts as possible. With our family’s peanut/tree nut allergies, finding quality candy making chocolate can prove difficult. I found Chocoley brand chocolates about a year ago, and I absolutely love them because not only are they peanut/tree nut free, but they also taste exceptionally good. Whichever white chocolate melts you choose, be sure that they taste good on their own, and are designed specifically for candy making. White baking bars or morsels don’t dry to a as nice a finish as the candy melts do.
Prepare the surface for your decorated shortbread by setting several large sheets of parchment paper onto a table. Gather all of the decorating bags, tips, couplers, sprinkles, and decors that you want to use to decorate the cookies. A few toothpicks are also a good idea for fixing mistakes.
Melt half the of the white chocolate required in the recipe, and then dip the top half of each cookie into the chocolate, shaking off the excess before placing them onto the parchment work surface to dry. The initial coat of white chocolate gives the cookies a nice, glossy base on which to work.
Larger cookies are easiest to coat with a spoon. While the white chocolate base is still wet, arrange any sprinkles or decors on the cookie to ensure that they stick once the coating dries.
After the base coat and sprinkling of sugared decors is complete, melt the remaining white chocolate in a new bowl. Divide the melted chocolate and tint with the desired gel-based coloring. Rather than trying to tint to the ever-difficult black, I melt a touch of dark chocolate candy melts for darker details.
Pipe the details onto the cookies. The white chocolate has a thinner consistency, but will behave much like icing does–you can pipe outlines, and “flood” the centers just as you would with royal icing. Bear in mind that the thinner consistency flows faster than royal icing, so you’ll have to work quickly to control it. I highly recommend practicing on the parchment until you get a feel for the flowing chocolate.
If the chocolate gets too firm to flow through the icing tips, remove the clog with a toothpick. Then place the tip back on the decorating bag, and roll the bag between your palms to warm the chocolate.
Allow the white chocolate dry to set on the decorated shortbread cookies, for about an hour or so. The candy melts dry very quickly.
Once dry, wrap the decorated shortbread cookies in clear bags, with little tags attached, making the best hostess gifts around.
Better yet, pair your beautifully wrapped decorated shortbread cookies with a bag of homemade hot chocolate mix. They make a sweet gift for all of your friends and neighbors.
Sweetly packaged, homemade decorated shortbread cookies are sure to bring a smile to everyone on your gift giving list!
♥♥♥
Kirsten Kubert
Yields 24
The secret to gorgeously decorated cut-out cookies is this delightfully easy shortbread dough that really holds its shape when baked. Using melted white chocolate instead of icing makes them extra special. This recipe makes 2 - 3 dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cutters you use.
40 minPrep Time
15 minCook Time
55 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 ½ C. unsalted butter (3 sticks)
- 1 C. granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. King Arthur Flour’s Fiori di Sicilia flavoring (a blend of vanilla and citrus)
- 3 ¼ C. all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 2 C. Chocoley white chocolate candy melts, divided (or other premium quality brand)
- Gel–based food coloring (Not water based! See notes below)
- Decorator sugar, sprinkles, or other novelties
- Wilton icing tips #3 and #5 and couplers
- Plastic decorating bags
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and combine it on medium low speed, until it looks creamy, and has lightened a bit in color.
- Then add the Fiori di Sicilia flavoring; stirring to fully incorporate.
- Whisk salt into the flour, and then add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 2-3 batches, stirring in between. Stir until well combined, and dough starts to come together.
- Lay a large piece of plastic wrap on to a clean, flat surface; transfer the dough onto the plastic wrap.
- Form the dough into a ball, and then press it into a rectangle about ½-inch thick. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes, or until firm. (Can be done 1 day ahead.)
- Unwrap the chilled dough, and roll it out on a floured surface to an even ¼-inch thickness. Cut desired shapes with cookie cutters, being careful to maximize space on the dough so as to minimize the need to re-roll and over work the dough.
- Put the cut-out pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Refrigerate the cutouts for 30 minutes.
- After chilling, bake the cutouts at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned.
- Remove the cookies from oven. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. (Can be done 1 day ahead.)
- Place the half of white chocolate wafers into a microwave safe bowl; heat the wafers on half power for 30 second increments, stirring rapidly in between bursts until white chocolate is completely melted and smooth. (Between 1 to 2 minutes.)
- Working on a large sheet of parchment, dip the cookies into the white chocolate to completely coat the top and sides, gently shaking off excess. Larger cookies can be coated by spooning the melted white chocolate over the cookie and allowing the excess to drip away before placing on the parchment to set. (About 15 minutes.)
- To add sprinkles or other sugared novelties, carefully place them on the cookies while the white chocolate is still wet, and then allow the chocolate to set.
- Once the initial coating of white chocolate is set, melt the remaining wafers in a new bowl.
- Divide melted white chocolate into smaller bowls to color, if desired.
- Transfer the colored white chocolate to decorating bags fitted with the desired tips. (I like Wilton tip #3 is good for outlines, #5 for filling in spaces.)
- Pipe colored white chocolate designs onto the cookies, and return the cookies to the parchment to set. (Another 15 minutes or so.) Sprinkles can also be used to adorn the piping, if desired.
Notes
I highly recommend using the best quality white chocolate candy melts that you can find. By this, I mean using melts that taste wonderful on their own. If you don’t care for the flavor of the white chocolate melts alone, then the cookies will do little to improve the situation. Candy melts work better than baking bars or candy bars because they contain a small amount of wax, and are made to dry firm after melting. White chocolate morsels do not work well at all for decorating purposes. White chocolate baking bars, candy bars, and morsels will remain slightly tacky after drying. Also, as water is the enemy of chocolate, I recommend using gel-based coloring to help prevent the melted white chocolate from seizing when the coloring is added. Cookies can be cut out, baked/cooled, stacked then tightly wrapped and frozen for up to 2 months before decorating. Simply thaw cookies at room temperature overnight before decorating.
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You’ve made your decorated shortbread cookies, so now…
On to the Giveaway!
I use King Arthur Flour almost exclusively for all of my baking projects, because the quality is unparalleled. Imagine how thrilled I am to be partnering with King Arthur for Cookie Week! I feel like the lead singer of an Elvis Tribute Band getting to perform with the King Himself!
As the Official Flour of Cookies for Kids Cancer, King Arthur Flour is donating a $50 Cookie Week Prize Package! The Prize Pack is chock-full of everything you need to get started making fabulous decorated cookies for the Holidays! How sweet is that?
UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED.
To enter to win the Cookie Week Prize Package:
♥♥Leave a comment on this post telling me who you’d like to bring joy & a smile to with Homemade Cookies for Holidays. Or just comment that Butter + Sugar + Flour Rules.♥♥
Bonus entries can be earned by leaving a comment after:
- Registering a Bake Sale or Cookie Exchange to benefit Cookies for Kids Cancer.
- OR reporting the total number of cookies exchanged at your Holiday Cookie Exchange in the comments. I’ll include the total under our registered Cookie Week exchange.
- Liking King Arthur Flour on facebook.
- Following King Arthur Flour on Twitter.
- Following King Arthur Flour on Pinterest.
- Subscribing to Comfortably Domestic by clicking the “Sign Me Up!” button in the left margin of this page.
- Liking Comfortably Domestic on facebook.
- Following @ComfortDomestic on Twitter.
- Following Comfortably Domestic on Pinterest.
- Tweeting about the giveaway, such as:
Contest is open to US residents only, and closes at Midnight EST on Saturday December 15, 2012. Entries must be left on this post only to qualify for the Giveaway.
{Not-so-fine-print: The kind folks at King Arthur Flour offered to give one lucky Comfortably Domestic Reader the Cookie Week Prize Package. I received like items to play around with in my kitchen and review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am a big fan of their products.}
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