Shortbread Cookies with Cookie Butter

Shortbread Cookies with Cookie Butter - made July 5, 2019, adapted from My Cookie Journey

I had pinned this recipe awhile ago but couldn’t make it when I was in my temporary digs with two thirds of my stuff packed in boxes in the garage because in those boxes were my star tip and plastic piping bags. But now that I’m (mostly) unpacked and found all my baking stuff again, it seemed like a good time to finally try this recipe. The original recipe called for filling these with jam in the center. You know my feelings about jam. So I used cookie butter.

First, let me say these were delicious. Not too sweet, not too buttery like those (damn delicious) Danish butter cookies in the blue tin, and the cookie butter was the perfect complement to the cookie.

Second, I will also say these were a pain in my flat butt to make. The dough wasn’t hard to mix together and it had the perfect malleable texture. But these were a pain because that perfect malleable texture also meant the dough was too stiff to pipe out of that star tip. I foolishly ignored the suggestion in the original recipe to warm up the dough slightly if it was too stiff before I put it in the plastic piping bag fitted out with the star tip. Once I realized the dough was too stiff to pipe, I couldn’t pop the whole thing into the microwave to warm since the star tip was metal.

So I had to empty the dough into a bowl, warm it up slightly in the microwave, put it back into another piping bag with the star tip, and try again. It was better on the second try except the dough was still a bit stiff. I gamely kept piping rosettes but halfway through, the pressure was too much for the opening of the bag and the star tip burst through. Sigh. Scrape back into the bowl, warm it up for another few seconds, put into a third piping bag.

I eventually got them all piped and I have to say, they actually looked like honest to goodness rosettes. Apparently, a stiff-ish dough can make it look good in the end. They browned easily so don’t bake them too long. I loved the texture and the rosettes make the perfect vehicle for the cookie butter.

Warm the cookie butter slightly to make piping them into the center wells a little easier. The cookie butter will set once it cools in the cookie. Despite my torturous experience, I will make these again.

200 g unsalted butter, softened
80 g powdered sugar
2 egg whites (I used 1/4 cup of liquid egg whites)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
320 g all-purpose flour
cookie butter

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream together butter and powdered sugar until well combined. Add egg whites, vanilla extract and salt; mix until combined.
3. Add the flour in three additions and beat each addition on low speed until just combined; do not overmix.
4. Transfer dough into piping bag fitted with large star tip. Pipe rosettes of cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets. Make a small indent in the center of each cookie with the back of a teaspoon and fill with cookie butter. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.