Stamped Cookies #11 - and a plug for Kitchen Vixen

Stamped Cookies #11 - made November 5, 2021 from Masala Herb 

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cardamom powder, optional

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cornstarch

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla bean paste, mixing until just combined.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together salt, baking powder, cardamom and cinnamon if using, flour and cornstarch.
3. Add dry ingredients in two separate additions to butter mixture, mixing after each addition until combined. Divide in half and pat into thick discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
4. When chilled, roll out each disc to 1/4" thickness. Stamp and/or cut into desired impressions and shapes. Freeze, covered, for 10-15 minutes.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space chilled cookie shapes. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.

Allow me to go into raptures over two things in this post. I'll start with the cookie mold set from Kitchen Vixen. I bought the Eva's Lace set and a scallop-edged cookie cutter from her Etsy shop. As you can see from the pictures here, they were well packaged and protected so they arrived in pristine shape.

As you can also see here, the cookie mold is just gorgeous. The set comes with the imprint you see above as well as a cutter to cut the whole cookie (complete with scallop/fluted edges that fit the design), a smaller star-shaped cutter if you want to cut out the star pattern in the middle and a small round cutter to cut the very center piece out.

So you can easily make all sorts of different-looking cookies with just this one set. Simply gorgeous. Need I say high quality, small business, made in the USA? As always, these opinions are my own, I'm not affiliated with Kitchen Vixen other than as a customer, I don't make any money if you click on the link to take you to her Etsy shop. I simply provide it so you can check it out for yourself. This was my first purchase from her but it won't be my last. Guaranteed. But that's another post.

The second thing I'm going into raptures about in this post is this recipe from Masala Herb. If you've been following my cookie stamp obsession over the past year, you might understand "obsession" is a mild word. Like saying the sun is "a little warm".

I've tried multiple recipes for stamped cookies and while most of them have handled decently well and the unbaked cookies look great, the true test is how the cookies look after baking. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves how well the impressions held after baking with this recipe. Spoiler: they freaking totally held.

I'm so thrilled. The taste was also good. I know I make that sound almost incidental but I'm still thrilling over how well the impressions held. Don't overbake or they will seem a bit hard when they cool. This has a lot of flour and cornstarch relative to the amount of sugar so it isn't that sweet. The dough may also be a little stiff so be judicious on whether you need that last 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour. I used all the flour but my dough was a bit dry so I added additional vanilla but you can see from some of the dark spots in my dough that I didn’t mix it in too well. I didn’t want to overmix the dough so I couldn’t get the additional vanilla mixed in evenly.

Regardless, I had fun playing with the different cookie cuttings and made sandwich cookies with a couple, sandwiched with cookie butter of course but you can also use Nutella or any other filling you choose. The cookie makes a nice backdrop to showcase a more flavorful filling.

The smaller star shape cut will make for dainty cookies if that's what you're going for, perfect to serve at a tea. If you don't want to use as sandwich cookies and want a bit more sweetness, sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar before baking. I preferred to leave them plain so the design of the cookie mold is apparent.

To circle back to Kitchen Vixen, treat yourself on Black Friday or Small Business Saturday with a purchase from her Etsy shop. If you like cookie stamping, you’ll love her products. I know I do.