Cookie Recipe for Hidden Shapes

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.