Pastel Butter Cookies

Pastel Butter Cookies
Pastel Butter Cookies
To give a batch of almond shortbread cookies the pastel treatment, dust them with tinted confectioners' sugar. We blended the sugar with finely ground freeze-dried fruits (blueberry, raspberry, and mango) for subtle, all-natural hues.
  • Preparing Time: -
  • Total Time: -
  • Served Person: Makes 40
Cookies Bake Dessert Christmas Easter Christmas Eve Almond Cinnamon Fruit Soy Free Peanut Free
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • â½ teaspoon coarse salt
  • â½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup whole blanched almonds, toasted
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted, plus 1/2 cup per tinted sugar
  • freeze-dried fruits in various colors, such as blueberries, raspberries, and mangoes
  • Carbohydrate 12 g(4%)
  • Cholesterol 12 mg(4%)
  • Fat 7 g(10%)
  • Fiber 1 g(3%)
  • Protein 2 g(3%)
  • Saturated Fat 3 g(15%)
  • Sodium 25 mg(1%)
  • Calories 110

Preparation Preheat oven to 350°F. Place toasted almonds in the bowl of a food processor. Add flour, salt, and cinnamon, and process until nuts are finely ground, about 1 minute. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer on medium, beat butter and 1 cup confectioners’ sugar until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add vanilla and beat until combined. With mixer on low, gradually add almond mixture and beat until just incorporated. Using a 1 1/2‑inch (1‑tablespoon) cookie scoop, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are just golden, 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cool completely. For each desired color, place 1/2 cup fruit with 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth and evenly tinted. (Sugars can be stored in airtight containers up to 1 month.) Place tinted sugars in small bowls and dip cookies, domed-side down, into tinted sugars to coat. Transfer to a plate and let rest, about 30 minutes. (Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.) TipWe used pastel powdered food coloring from freeze-dried fruits (found in the snack section of large grocery stores) to decorate these cookies, but for a broader palette of colors, look for the array of pastel powdered sugars at specialty baking stores. Reprinted from Martha Stewart's Cookie Perfection: 100+ Recipes to Take Your Sweet Treats to the Next Level. Copyright © 2019 by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. Buy the full book from Amazon.

Preparation Preheat oven to 350°F. Place toasted almonds in the bowl of a food processor. Add flour, salt, and cinnamon, and process until nuts are finely ground, about 1 minute. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer on medium, beat butter and 1 cup confectioners’ sugar until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add vanilla and beat until combined. With mixer on low, gradually add almond mixture and beat until just incorporated. Using a 1 1/2‑inch (1‑tablespoon) cookie scoop, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are just golden, 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cool completely. For each desired color, place 1/2 cup fruit with 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth and evenly tinted. (Sugars can be stored in airtight containers up to 1 month.) Place tinted sugars in small bowls and dip cookies, domed-side down, into tinted sugars to coat. Transfer to a plate and let rest, about 30 minutes. (Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.) TipWe used pastel powdered food coloring from freeze-dried fruits (found in the snack section of large grocery stores) to decorate these cookies, but for a broader palette of colors, look for the array of pastel powdered sugars at specialty baking stores. Reprinted from Martha Stewart's Cookie Perfection: 100+ Recipes to Take Your Sweet Treats to the Next Level. Copyright © 2019 by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. Buy the full book from Amazon.