Another Eat Write Retreat challenge! I’ve recipes so many goodies from this conference, and it hasn’t even happened yet! This one is the “Show Your Raw Talent” challenge. I was mailed a bag of Monk Fruit in the Raw Sugar along with a recipe. I had to use the recipe, make the cookies, and then decorate them all pretty! YAY! Only one problem: I am not very good at decorating cookies. So I decided to try, see what happens, and not get too worked up over it. If nothing else, I had the chance to try out a really interesting new product and make lots of delicious cookies!
I decided to just stick with classic black and white. The white frosting is a cookie decorating frosting I found at Michael’s, and it worked SO WELL. It dried quickly and was easy to write on with the chocolate. The chocolate swirls were made from melted semi-sweet Ghiradelli bars, and I simply filled a pastry bag, made a very small snip in the end, and had fun. The result is the simple, fun, loopy swirl joy fest. To make the shape I used round cookie cutters, cut out circles, then cut them again using only half of the cookie cutter. I thought this was a fun shape and I wanted them to be smaller.
I bet you want to see the recipe now, right? Check it:
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 10 Tbsp unsalted sweet butter, softened
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 yolk, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup Monk Fruit In The Raw Bakers Bag
- In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high to beat the butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is incorporated for 3 minutes. Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla, beating well between additions. Add the Monk Fruit in the Raw Bakers Bag and beat until just combined. Reduce the beater speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredient, beating until the mixture is clumpy. Stop blending and use a flexible spatula to complete mixing the dough by hand.
- Turn the dough out onto a counter covered with plastic wrap and divide it in half. The dough will be soft and sticky. Using plastic wrap to flatten the dough, shape it into a rectangle 4 to 5 inches wide by 6 inches long. Wrap dough and chill overnight in refrigerator.
- To roll, place one cookie rectangle on a floured non-stick surface. Working quickly lightly dust top of dough with flour and roll out with rolling pin to ¼ inch thickness and 12 x 9 inch rectangle. Using a large 3-1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut out 6 large cookies. Repeat with the second dough. Place cookies 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Let rest.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Bake cookies on center rack. Bake 10-12 minuted or until cookies are firm when pressed in the center and evenly pale gold in color. Let them rest 1 minute on the baking sheet. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- Decorate.
Like I said, decorating isn’t really my scene. But I still think these came out well. The cookie was sturdy enough that it was easy to work with, and tasty enough that it was easy to eat. All in all, it was a good experience!
