This recipe is adapted from Sarah Kieffer’s book ‘100 Cookies.’
These cookies are buttery and crisp and the berry glaze adds a sweet and slightly tart-ish topping. But the crowning glory has to be the beautiful berry colour, all naturally provided by the multi-hued berries.
A little on the cookies – the cookie dough has to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours up to 2 days. Best to make it the day before baking and store in the fridge overnight. This is also a very forgiving dough and can be rolled and re-rolled many times over. It is a very soft dough and the refrigeration helps keep the dough firm when rolling and cutting. The coldness makes cutting shapes so much easier and also helps maintain the shapes while baking.
Best to stick to simple shapes – hearts, circles, simple flower etc.
While rolling the dough out, place a piece of baking paper or plastic wrap over as this prevents the sticky dough from being gorged out. Go easy on the dusting of flour because an excess can change the dough itself, resulting in a dry cookie. The use of the baking paper or plastic wrap helps maintain the integrity of the cookie dough. So don’t miss this step out.
The glaze can be anything you want – some icing sugar and lemon juice would be more than adequate. But the berries are a lovely addition and so pretty. The berry glaze is simply some berry juice added to the icing sugar. While any ready-made juice can be used, it is quite easy to make a deep magenta juice using some frozen or fresh berries. Any berry will do and for this bake a pack of frozen berries was used. The berries were cooked till soft and pulpy with some lemon juice and sugar. The juice that was strained from this mixture was used to make the glaze. The rest of the berries can be pureed into a berry sauce and used in cakes, creams, desserts or mixed with yogurt.
Ingredients for Cookies
- 332 g cake flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 57 g room-temperature butter
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 30 g sifted icing sugar
- 1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
BERRY GLAZE
- 1 – 1 1/2 c sifted icing sugar
- 3 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 c frozen mixed berries
- 2 – 3 TBS of sugar
METHOD TO MAKE COOKIES
- In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk the cake flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer or hand-held beater, beat butter till soft and smooth – about a minute.
- Add the sugar and icing sugar and beat till smooth and creamy – about 2-3 minutes.
- Add olive oil and mix until combined.
- Add flour mixture and mix till just combined. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat on a low speed until just combined.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours up to 2 days.
- Once dough has chilled preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and arrange the oven rack in the middle.
- Line 2 or 3 baking sheets with baking paper.
- Lightly dust a flat surface with some cake flour and roll out dough to about 6 mm in thickness. The dough will be sticky so place some baking paper or plastic wrap over the dough and roll to the desired thickness.
- Cut out desired shapes with a 5 – 7 cm cookie cutter. Re-roll leftovers or place in the fridge to re-use.
- Using a spatula gently lift the cookies and place on a baking sheet about 7 cm apart.
- Bake for 10 -12 minutes until the cookies are just beginning to lightly brown at the edges. Rotate trays halfway through baking time.
BERRY GLAZE
- In a small saucepan add the frozen berries, 2 – 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Adjust sugar depending on the tartness of the berries.
- Cook on medium heat till soft and pulpy. (about 10 minutes)
- Cool the mixture, pass through a sieve and catch the berry juice. Alternatively use store-bought berry juice.
- In a small bowl sift icing sugar.
- Add a tablespoon of lemon juice and 2 – 3 tablespoons of berry juice and mix to form a thin glaze.
- Gently glaze each cookie by placing one side lightly into the glaze. Lightly shake off excess glaze and place on a rack. The glaze firms up after an hour.
- Keep cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
