Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, and if you’ve completely forgotten (or have just got back from an amazing holiday in Florida and forgot all about it) then have I got the cookies for you! Side note: these cookies also work for non-romantic occasions, such as birthdays, weddings, Fridays…
Basically, these raspberry white chocolate sugar cookies are heaven in a cookie jar.
Confession: these raspberry sugar cookies were supposed to be decorated with royal icing, but I ran out of time.
Yep, as you’ll see in the last picture, some of these cookies are lobster shaped. My original idea was to decorate them with royal icing to make them look like cute little lobsters – because what is more romantic than a lobster? Walking around their tanks, when they’re old, holding claws. They were going to be so pretty and intricately decorated – they were going to be my Sistene Chapel.
But alas, packing for my holiday could be put off no longer, and so I dipped them in white chocolate and called it a day. Plus sprinkles, because there’s never an excuse to not add sprinkles.
And it turns out that white chocolate was definitely the better idea in the first place! I should have known, because white chocolate and raspberries go together like Ross and Rachel anyway.
When it comes to getting the intense raspberry flavour into these cookies, there’s only one solution – freeze dried raspberries. You can find freeze dried raspberries in the baking aisle of your local supermarket (at least in the UK) or you can get them online. You are going to want freeze dried raspberry powder rather than whole chunks of fruit – so if you can only get hold of whole raspberries then pop them in a blender before using, and sieve out any of the remaining seeds or chunky bits.
I did manage to find some freeze dried raspberry powder on amazon, although the exact one I used seems to have disappeared. Typical!
To help get the white chocolate super smooth and easy to work with, I added a teaspoon of sunflower oil to it once melted. I don’t know about you, but I always find white chocolate just doesn’t melt as nicely as milk or dark does. You can’t taste the oil – it just makes the chocolate flow a little better, that’s all.
I baked two Valentine’s inspired recipes before I headed off on hols – these cookies, as well as some chocolate bark. Hopefully I will manage to get time between catching up on my sleep and unpacking to post the bark too, but it not you can also check out the cherry amaretto fudge I posted a couple of weeks ago for some more pink coloured baked goods.
- 115g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar (US granulated sugar)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 190g (1 & 1/2 cups) plain or all-purpose flour
- 30g (1oz or about 1/4 cup) freeze dried raspberry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon red food colouring (I used gel)
- 200g (7oz) good quality white chocolate
- 1 teaspoon sunflower oil (or other flavourless oil)
- Sprinkles (optional)
- Beat the butter and sugar together using a stand or hand mixer, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat well.
- Add the flour to the bowl, along with the raspberry powder, baking powder, salt, and red food colouring, and mix together on low until a dough forms. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in clingfilm or plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for an hour if possible, as this will make the dough much easier to work with.
- When you are ready to roll out the dough, preheat the oven to 180°C / 355°F (160°C fan), and line two large baking sheets with baking parchment or a silicone mat. Roll out the ball of dough on a floured surface using a lightly floured rolling pin, until about ¼ inch thick. Using cookie cutters of your choice, cut out the cookies and place them on the baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Try to get them out of the oven before the edges start to get brown. Leave the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Once the cookies are completely cooled, melt the white chocolate in the microwave, making sure to stir every 15 seconds to avoid burning the chocolate. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Once completely melted, stir in the sunflower oil to help make the chocolate easier to work with. Dip the cookies into the chocolate, and then shake off any excess chocolate before leaving to set on a piece of baking parchment or greaseproof paper.
- The baked cookies will stay fresh in a air-tight container for almost a week - there is no need to keep them in the fridge. The baked cookies can also be frozen for up to three months. Defrost at room temperature, dip them in chocolate, and then store in an air-tight container for up to 7 days.
- The unbaked cookie dough can be frozen for up to three months. Wrap the dough tightly in cling film or plastic wrap, and then defrost at room temperature before rolling out and baking.
These are sharp like your pointy elbows and creamy like your pasty English skin.
Love them and love you!
xxx