Embossed Vanilla Cookies

Recipe:

Ingredient Notes:

• Butter. For the best shortcrust pastry, use butter with at least 82% fat content. Before creaming, it should be at room temperature — soft to the touch, but not starting to melt.
• Sugar. Regular white granulated sugar works perfectly. The finer the crystals, the better. Alternatively, you can swap it for powdered sugar (icing sugar) for an even more delicate, melt-in-the-mouth texture.
• Eggs. This recipe calls for one whole egg (size M, roughly 50–55g without the shell). For an even crumblier, “short” texture, you can replace the whole egg with an equivalent weight of egg yolks (a medium yolk typically weighs 18–20g).
• Flour. The recipe is designed for standard all-purpose flour with about 10% protein. You can also use cake flour (which is “weaker,” with 8–9% protein) for a lighter bite.
• Vanilla. You can achieve that signature vanilla aroma using vanilla sugar, a pinch of vanillin, or 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract/essence.

Let’s start cooking!

Cream the butter with the granulated and vanilla sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. It’s normal for the sugar not to dissolve completely.

Add the salt and egg, then beat again.

Gradually add the sifted flour and baking powder, kneading until you have a soft, pliable dough.

Divide the dough in half, shape each piece into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30–40 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap from the chilled dough and roll it out with a regular rolling pin until it is 6–7 mm thick.

Then, using a patterned rolling pin greased with vegetable oil, roll it out again. Make sure the dough is cold enough, otherwise it will most likely get stuck in the grooves of the rolling pin.

Cut into individual cookies. I use a serrated pizza knife for this. Alternatively, you can use cookie cutters in any shape.

Transfer the cookies to a lined baking sheet.

Place in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) and bake until the edges are golden, which should take about 12–15 minutes.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Enjoy!

This Embossed Vanilla Cookies recipe was checked, prepared and approved by Chef Tatyana Nazaruk - author of FlavorIt.com.
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