Our COOKIE RECIPE of the day, Empire Cookies, is relatively easy to make and you can prepare the dough ahead. The dough can be kept frozen up to 3 months, thaw in the fridge before using.

Recipe by Mama Ding

Total Time | 2 hr 17 mins

Prep Time | 5 mins + 2 hours chill time

Cook Time | 12 - 15 mins

Servings : 12 pieces

Ingredients

For the Tart Dough -

140 g (½ cup + 2 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
50 g (½ cup) icing sugar, sifted
1 hard-boiled large egg yolk
1 large egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla extract
220 g (1 and ¾ cup) cake flour, sifted
¼ tsp salt

Icing and Assembly -

100 g (⅓ cup) jam of your choice
100 g (1 cup) icing sugar, sifted
1 - 2 tbsp warm water
¼ tsp vanilla extract
6 - 8 (candied) red cherries, each chopped into 6 bits

Method

01 In your mixer bowl and using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and icing sugar together until smooth.

02 Push the hard-boiled egg yolk through a sieve and stir the raw egg yolk and vanilla into it. Add this to the butter mixture and mix until blended.

Add the flour and salt to the butter mixture and stir until just blended. Shape the dough into a disc (it will be very soft), wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours.

03 Preheat the oven to 160 C/325 F and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

Place the chilled dough in between 2 plastic sheets. Roll out the dough to about 6 mm (¼-inch) thick and cut out cookies using a 5 cm (2-inch) fluted cookie cutter.

Place the cookies on the baking trays, leaving 1 cm (½-inch) between them.

04 Bake the cookies for 12 - 15 minutes, until just lightly browned around the edges. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking trays before assembling.

05 Stir the jam to soften and spread a little on a cookie bottom and sandwich a second cookie on top, pressing gently to secure. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

06 For the icing, whisk the icing sugar with 1 tbsp of water and the vanilla extract, add the remaining water if needed, until it is a thin icing consistency.

Spread a thin layer of icing on top of each cookie, top with a piece of candied cherry and set on a rack to dry. Let the cookies dry for about 3 hours before storing in an airtight container, lining each layer with parchment paper.

Notes

The cookies will keep, stored in an airtight container, for up to 3 days. They keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.