Sunday, May 13, 2012

Window Cookies

You wait ages for a cookie post to come along and then three come along at once! This is my third cookie post this month...having previously only done one or two since I started blogging. I love these cookies, they're so cute! Most people have made stained glass window cookies at some point in their lives...but these are stained glass window, window cookies complete with flake window sills and skittle flowers...you can't go wrong! :-)
They are also my second entry into this month's Random Recipes hosted by Belleau Kitchen. You may have seen in my last post that once a recipe book was randomly selected, there was a choice as to whether to make the first recipe in the book or the last. The book I selected was Hamlyn's 200 Cakes and Bakes and the recipe on the first page was for these delicious Lemon and Limoncello Mini Cupcakes. On the last page...the window cookies.
The cookies tasted lovely, although there are more sweets and chocolate than actual cookie! I'm sure children would love these...and that obviously makes me a big kid as I love them too!

Ingredients

200g chilled unsalted butter
275g plain flour
100g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla bean paste

175g coloured boiled sweets
Royal Icing
10 chocolate flakes
12 skittles or M&Ms, various colours
Sugar sprinkles

To make the dough, dice the butter and then put it in a food processor with the flour and then mix until if forms a breadcrumb consistency. You can then add the egg yolks, icing sugar and vanilla paste before blending again until the mixture comes together in a dough. This should then be chilled for at least an hour, wrapped in cling film

Whilst the dough is chilling, line 2 baking trays with baking paper and unwrap the boiled sweets. Then when the dough is suitably chilled, roll it out quickly on a floured surface. I rolled mine to roughly the thickness of one and half pound coins. From this you should be able to cut out 10 windows, each around 10cm x 8cm. I made a template out of card before I started to make it easier. At this stage the dough was very soft, so I decided to put the baking trays in the fridge covered in cling film for a bout 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes in the fridge I used a 3cm square cutter to cut out the window panes before popping a boiled sweet into each one. The cookies should be baked in a preheated oven for 12 minutes at 180c/160c fan/gas 4. The sweets will melt and fill the panes, if they don't you can use a toothpick to tease it into the corners, although I didn't find this to be necessary. The cookies can then cool on the baking trays.

Once cool you can add the finishing touches. Use royal icing to attach a flake to the base of each window. This should be right along the very bottom, otherwise the cookies won't stand up. Finally, attach the sprinkles and skittles and use royal icing in a piping back to add the additional details. Then stand your cookies up and your finished!

* Adapted from Hamlyn's 200 Cakes and Bakes

29 comments:

  1. Love love love this Laura. You never fail to amaze me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is amazing. Real pro work. You are a genius Laura!!
    Happy Mothers' day!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your Lemon and Limoncello cupcakes look gorgeous and these are absolutely stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh my - these are adorable! If the glass windows weren't cute enough you've piped the prettiest flowers up the outside. Love the window boxes too. Very clever idea brilliantly executed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is so sweet laura! They are such a clever and beautiful creations! Bravissima.

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are so lovely - the windows are amazing and your piped flowers so delicate. Love seeing what you come up with on your blog because it's always so beautifully put together! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are simply stunning! Love the piping too, so delicate. Thanks for visiting my blog, lovely to discover yours, everything looks delicious! Look forward to reading more :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Amazing what lovely cookies and far too pretty to eat, wonderful job you did of them too. x

    ReplyDelete
  9. I do not think you could get a prettier cookie than these, I really love them. They are a work of art. You should be proud of these beauties. I now have to make these for my children!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have to echo everyone and say these are amazing because they really are. I've tried making stained glass cookies before with mixed results. I LOVE this stained window - genius!

    ReplyDelete
  11. You are so talented, Laura! These are incredible! Swoon!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. These are adorable! I love your tiny piped flowers. They're almost too cute to eat (although I'm sure I could manage to eat a couple!)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Such a cute and effective idea... who couldn't lvoe these:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Whoa! There's a lot of love put into these cookies. I doubt I have the patience to finish decorating all of them, cause I might be picking through it. LOL.. thanks for coming over Laura!! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  15. very creative design.. will keep it rather to eat it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Those are the MOST elegant, beautiful and yummy cookies I ever saw!! So clever design!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Beautiful and I love the flake for the window sill pure gemius I say!

    ReplyDelete
  18. These little windows are so pretty! I see lots of Spring colours and sunshine through these windows.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I certainly know a couple of kids who would love these! They are so pretty Laura.

    ReplyDelete
  20. These are so pretty - they look too nice to eat!

    ReplyDelete
  21. These would look fantastic as part of a gingerbread house! So inventive- which is why they are in my Foodies 100 Ten at Ten today http://www.foodies100.co.uk/2012/05/16/best-of-the-foodie-blogs-ten-at-ten-19/

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks so much Emma...that's very kind of you! I can imagine these would be good in a gingerbread house. I put a single stained glass window in my gingerbread house last year but it would be good to have a whole window frame!

    (http://lauralovescakes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/lovely-little-gingerbread-house.html)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wow these are so amazingly beautiful! :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. LOVE these windows!! I don't dare show them to my daughter tonight she will want to get right to work!

    ReplyDelete
  25. oh, Laura, Laura, Laura... incredible stuff!!!!!... I am not only doubly pleased that you should enter twice so wonderfully into my Random Recipes challenge but wowowowowow!... look at these beauties!... am so completely impressed! thank you x

    ReplyDelete
  26. These are just absolutely adorable, I love them! Not sure I could bring myself to eat them though as they are just too cute!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Wow Laura, these are absolutely stunning. I've never made any sort of window cookies before, but I reckon these are the best I've seen. Well done you.

    ReplyDelete
  28. What great cookies and what a great last recipe you must have the patience of a saint to fiddle with these. Fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  29. The lemon cakes were cute, but these are a whole other level of amazing! Absolutely beautiful.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are greatly appreciated!