A beautiful floral tasting cookie.
These should have been handed out at “the wedding” last weekend as favors.
Don’t these cookies look like I robbed the little flower girls’ baskets at the royal wedding last weekend? Well I didn’t; they came from my yard.
My alarm was not set for 4:00 a.m. but my recorder was and once I was awake I turned it on and did a pretty quick catch up to the main event.
All of these flowers came from my yard except for the little in bachelor button flowers which were actually from some Bachelor Button tea I had bought at Central Market in Austin a couple of years ago.
If you didn’t know, there are quite a few edible flowers and I use them often. Once I used nasturtium flowers for a sauce to go over fish and it was very delicious. Here is my short list of edibles: Angelica, bachelor buttons, calendula (marigold), carnation, dianthus, chrysanthemum, citrus blossoms, English daisy, fuchsia, gladiolus, hibiscus, impatience, jasmine flowers, Johnny jump ups, lavender, lemon verbena, nasturtium, pansy, rose and violets. Well, that wasn’t actually a short list but the list I keep on my phone when I’m out looking for flowers.
Of course if you use these edible flowers you want to make sure that you haven’t used any harmful chemicals on them while they are growing. We never put anything on our flowers but an organic fertilizer.
Wouldn’t the flowers be beautiful on top of an English trifle or a bowl of ice cream of as a garnish on any dessert? I dried my flowers in my food dehydrator until they were a little crisp. If using as a garnish no need to dry them out. Here’s an article on drying flowers in the oven.
If not into a floral tasting cookie then just top this sable with the glaze and some sprinkles or put a egg white wash on the cookie and sprinkle with sugar before baking.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: These Coconut Shortbread cookies would go great with a morning pot of tea.
My beautiful roses, pansies, hibiscus, marigold, dianthus and a few mums.
Beat the eggs and sugar until creamy and blended.
Divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap for one hour. After an hour, toll dough on floured surface to 1/8-1/4″ thick.
I used a 2″ fluted cutter for the cookie and then a smaller one to cut out the centers. I rerolled that dough into the remainder of the cookie dough.
Bake in oven until lightly brown. (I over baked some of mine but they were still good.)
Whisk the powdered sugar, meringue powder and water until there are no lumps.
Have your cookies ready, along with the almonds, pearl sugar (or pearl type sprinkles) and the dried flowers.
These dried flowers were from some Bachelor Button tea I bought and just happened to find in my pantry when looking for my pearl sugar. So, using an offset spatula, spread some of the glaze on each cookie then sprinkle with whatever toppings you want.
- 2/3 cup (5.2 ounces, 150g) best-quality salted butter, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons flaky sea salt, such as fleur de sel or Maldon
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 1 3/4 cups (210g) all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
- 2 c. powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. meringue powder
- 3 Tbsp. water
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand in a bowl with a sturdy silicone spatula, cream the butter and salt together on low speed until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- 2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, gradually adding the sugar while whisking, until the yolks are light and fluffy – about a minute. With the mixer on low, add the egg yolks to the butter, stopping the mixer to scrape down any butter clinging to the sides so it all gets incorporated.
- 3. Sift together the flour and baking powder in a small bowl, then stir that into the creamed butter mixture until it’s completely incorporated. (Don’t overmix it.)
- 4. Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1-inch (3cm) thick, wrap in plastic, and chill for an hour. (The dough can be made up to five days in advance, and stored in the refrigerator.)
- 5. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Have a pastry scrape or thin metal spatula handy.
- 6. Cut the rectangle of dough in half and place one piece between two large sheets of parchment paper. Roll the dough until it is between 1/3- to 1/2-inch (1,25cm) thick. Peel off the top piece of parchment paper and, using a 2-inch (5cm) round cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough, place them on the prepared baking sheet at least 1/2-inch (2cm) apart. You may need to coax them off the parchment with the pastry scraper or spatula.
- 7. Roll the second piece of dough, cut out circles, and put them on the other baking sheet. (Scraps can be gathered up and rerolled to make additional cookies.) Chill the baking sheets of cookies in the refrigerator or freezer until firm.
- 8. To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Adjust the oven rack to the middle of the oven.
- 9. Beat the egg in a small bowl with the teaspoon of water. Remove one sheet of cookies from the refrigerator or freezer. Brush the tops of the cookies with the egg wash then use a fork to cross hatch a pattern on the tops of the cookies. Bake the cookies until the tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet in the oven midway during baking.
- 10. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Once baked, the cookies will keep for up to four days in an airtight container.
- For the glaze: Mix 2 cups powdered sugar with the meringue powder and whisk in the water a little at a time until you have the consistency you want.
- I omitted his last glazing instructions with egg white and opted to put a powdered sugar glaze on top and decorate with dried edible flowers from my yard with some pearl sugar and a few toasted almonds.
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