Almond Butterfly Cookies
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter, softened
- 125 g caster sugar
- 1 large egg yolk and 2 egg whites
- ¾ tsp dr. oetker almond extract
- 200 g plain flour
- 1 ½ tsp dr. oetker baking powder
- 50 g ground almonds
- 300 g icing sugar
- dr. oetker natural red food colouring
- dr. oetker soft shimmer pearls to decorate
Method
- Grease and line 3
large baking trays. Whisk the butter and caster sugar in a bowl until
pale and creamy. Whisk in the egg yolk and ½ tsp almond extract.
- Sieve in the flour and
baking powder, add the ground almonds and mix together until the
mixture resembles a crumble. Using your hands, bring the mixture
together to form a firm dough. On a lightly floured surface knead the
dough until smooth and pliable.
- Roll out the dough to a
thickness of ½ cm. Using a 7cm wide butterfly shaped cutter stamp out
cookies. Arrange on the baking trays, prick the cookies lightly with a
fork and chill for 30 minutes.
- Ten minutes before
baking, preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, 350°F/Gas 4). Bake the
cookies for 10-12 minutes until firm and lightly golden. Leave to cool
for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, adding the remaining almond extract and the egg whites. Mix until combined.
- Carefully combine the
wet and dry ingredients together to make a soft, spreadable icing – If
it is too stiff add a few drops of water, or if too dry, add some sifted
icing sugar, 1 tbsp at a time. Beat until smooth and glossy.
- Put about 2 tbsp of the icing in a small bowl and add a little red food colouring to make a pale pink shade.
- Spoon a further 2 tbsp
of the white icing into a small piping bag fitted with a No: 2 size
plain piping nozzle. Pipe a line approx. 1mm from the edge of all of the
cookies, marking out the wings and body.
- Working on one
butterfly at a time, spoon ½ tsp of the white icing into the centre of
each butterfly wing and gently spread it to fill the centre. Flood the
centre of the biscuit with a little pink icing to make the body.
- To finish, decorate the wings with shimmer pearls.
