Last year about this time I showed you the Hidden Stars cake I'd been working on using cookie shapes inside.
I used the all white version of this recipe for the Hidden Butterflies cake.
But somehow in the confusion I neglected to share the cookie recipe I came up with. Oops!
Many of you have been asking about it so without further delay, here it is!
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Seven Minute Sugar Cookies
For Twice Baked or Hidden Surprise Cakes
By Deborah Stauch, Once Upon A Pedestal
Notes: The baking time is short so that
the cookie is set and no longer shiny but not at all browned. Seven minutes at 350°F
or 176°C is perfect in my oven when using the small or mini cookie cutter
shapes. You many need to adjust the time to fit your oven.
This
recipe uses powdered sugar rather than granulated to insure that the bite or
texture of the cookie is be more similar to the surrounding cake and not
grainy. The baked cookie isn’t overly sweet. Its bite is slightly denser than
the surrounding cake when baked but is still easy to cut into and doesn’t snap or
crunch when the cake is cut.
Be
sure to chill the dough once it has been pressed into the pans so that your
shapes will keep their bevel and won’t spread.
Equipment
Parchment lined baking sheet(s)
Hand or stand mixer
6 inch round cake pan or pan of desired ring size
Plastic wrap
Cookie cutter(s) no taller than the round cake pan
Ingredients
2 ½ cups (5
sticks) salted butter at room temperature [565g]
OR: for all white cookies like the Hidden Butterflies:
substitute 2 3/4 cup shortening for the butter [56.5g];
and add 1/2 tablespoon [7.5 mL] white coloring by
Americolor.
3 ½ cups powdered
sugar [700g]
2 large eggs
2 Tablespoons clear
vanilla [15 mL] OR flavoring of your
choice
7 1/2 cups flour [720
g] plus additional 1/2 cup if needed
1 teaspoon salt [5
mL]
Food coloring
Instructions
1. Preheat
oven to 350°F or 176°C.
2.
Cream the butter or shortening and
sugar together in a bowl with an electric mixer on low to medium speed.
Mix until thoroughly incorporated – about one minute. Scrape down the
sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more.
Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too
much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you’d like a light and
fluffy cookie, that’s ideal, however the dough will spread more during
baking, which is not ideal if for Twice Baked Cakes since you need
the cookie to hold its shape.
3. Add
eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
4. Add
flour and salt and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. If using a stand
mixer, the dough is ready when it clumps around the paddle attachment.
It’s important not to over mix the dough, just make sure all the flour is
blended. This will prevent the glutens in the flour from developing and making
a tough cookie.
5. Line
a 6” or desired ring size cake pan with plastic wrap. Press the dough firmly in
the pan. Cover with additional plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours or more.
6. Remove
the dough from the pan and set aside the plastic wrap. Using a sharp serrated
bread knife, slice the chilled dough into 32 even pieces by cutting in half,
then in half again and so on. This step replaces the need to roll out the dough
and gives each wedge an even bevel so that it can form the ring when stacked
side by side.
7. Cut
out desired cookie shape from each wedge and place the cut shapes on a
parchment lined baking sheet. Set scraps aside. The shapes shouldn’t spread
much so you can place them fairly close on the baking sheet. Dipping your
cutter in a little bowl of flour after each cut is a great way to keep the
dough from sticking and stretching out your shape. If your kitchen is extra hot
or if you’d like some time to chill out while the cookies do the same, put
the cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to
chill again.
8. Bake
cookies for about 7 minutes or until the dough is just set and no longer
shiny. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie your oven.
9. Let
cookies cool to room temperature before stacking in ring shape inside larger
cake pan.
10. Press
remaining scraps into smaller pan for an additional ring if your plan calls for
it.
11. Cookies can be baked ahead and kept in an
airtight container or frozen until you are ready to assemble the rest of the
cake.
Metric conversions
from charts by The Metric Kitchen http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml
Recipe adapted from/inspired by Sweetopia.
