Saturday, December 24, 2011

Italian Butter Cookies




Every year around Christmas time, I see these butter cookies everywhere. I have always wanted to make them, but could never find a good recipe. However, I stumbled across this one and just had to make them! Unfortunately it calls for a cookie press...which I do not own, but I made due. These cookies are crisp and sweet. Enjoy!


Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) non-dairy butter (I used Earth Balance sticks)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour

(For decorating)
raspberry jam
semi-sweet or dark chocolate
sprinkles
powdered sugar

1.) Beat softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
2.) Add applesauce and vanilla, beat until combined.
3.) Add dry ingredients slowly until well mixed in.
4.) Fill a piping or plastic bag with the dough and pipe shapes onto a greased cookies sheet.
Note: This is where the cookie press was supposed to come in. If you have one, by all means use that to make the shapes. However, I loaded the dough into a plastic bag and made it a piping bag by cutting one of the corner tips off. I then piped it into shapes.
5.) Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, rotating once.
6.) After baked, let cool slightly before moving the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
7.) After cookies have cooled, take jam and mix in a bowl until it has a smooth consistency.
8.) Spread jam on the inside of one cookie and place another on top of it, creating a "cookie sandwich" of sorts. Repeat for all cookies.
9.) After the jam has set (about 30 minutes or so), either dip in melted chocolate and cover with sprinkles, or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Adapted from Obviously Sweet



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