These fall-themed cookies, created by Chef-Instructor Penny Stankiewicz, have a decorative pumpkin at their center, making them perfect for both Halloween and Thanksgiving.
They're also rolled in edible glitter for extra sparkle. Of course, you can also omit this step or roll the cookies in something else — sprinkles and shredded coconut come to mind.
Simply follow the recipe to make your dough, and refrigerate the roll until you're ready to bake and serve. It's a highly-customizable recipe, so have fun with it!
Get hands-on experience making cookies, cakes and so much more in ICE's Pastry & Baking Arts program
Ingredients
- 225 grams unsalted butter
- 322 grams white granulated sugar
- 3.5 grams kosher salt
- 1 egg
- 5 grams vanilla extract
- 300 grams all-purpose flour
- Orange and green gel paste food coloring, as needed
- Colored sanding sugar, as desired
- 1 egg white, for assembly
Directions
- In the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, cream sugar, butter and salt with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla.
- Add flour in three increments, lowering the speed so it stays in the bowl, and mix only until combined.
- Separate dough into three parts. Leave first batch of 500 grams it's natural color. For a pumpkin design, color 300 grams by mixing dough with orange gel paste food coloring. Repeat the same process for the last 100 grams of dough, coloring it green.
- Starting with the orange dough, form a log. To form pumpkin shape, make a groove down the center of the log and tapering the bottom a bit. (Remember that the shape is only visible when the cookie is cut, so keep the general log shape, and manipulate it so to resemble a pumpkin from the front only.) Place dough in fridge and chill until firm.
- Roll green dough into a log. Brush egg white down the center of the chilled orange log’s ridge. Place green log in center of the orange log's groove, and create a form that resembles a pumpkin's stem. Chill this until firm.
- When pumpkin log is fully chilled and firm, brush it entirely with egg white. Roll thinner logs of neutral-colored dough, and fit it into any of the grooves around the form you’ve created, starting around the stem. (You’re working toward encasing pumpkin log in neutral-colored dough.) Use as many small logs to do this as you need to.
- Roll remaining dough very thick and as long and wide as your log (approximately 1-inch thick). Brush your log once more with egg white, and wrap this thick layer of dough all the way around, enclosing your pattern completely in the neutral-colored dough. Wrap this in parchment paper, and roll it so that it's smooth all the way around. Chill this one more time.
- Remove from wrapping. Brush once more with egg white, and roll it in your colored sanding sugar.
- Cut slices about ⅓-inch thick. (You’ll need to cut past the end of the roll to see the image.) Place cut cookie dough on a lined cookie sheet or sheet pan, and bake in a preheated 350° F standard oven (300° F for convection) until just set and barely light golden, 8 to 11 minutes.
More recipes from Chef Penny:
